Fish supply sufficient despite Typhoon Fabian, habagat

The Department of Agriculture (DA) through the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA) reported sufficient yield despite the strong winds and relentless downpour caused by southwest monsoon enhanced by Typhoon Fabian.

This as the PFDA-Sual Fish Port (SFP) in Pangasinan registered a 64.31 percent increase during July 19-25, 2021 unloading period.

In its aggregated data, PFDA recorded 79.13 metric tons (MT) in its weekly fish unloading volume nationwide.

Skipjack tuna or gulyasan yielded the highest availability of supply at 34.3 MT, followed by galunggong with 29.4 MT, and yellowfin tuna with 12.075 MT.

While scattered rains are still expected due to intensified habagat, the PFDA said it will double its efforts in the SFP to still maintain high unloading volume as well as deliver quality and affordable fish to its clients and stakeholders.

With efforts against the African swine fever (ASF) still plaguing the meat market, the DA relies on other sources of nutrition such as the fisheries to assure food security in the country during the pandemic.