Despite La Niña, fish ports’ unloading volume up

INQUIRER PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

The volume of fish unloaded at regional ports rose by 4.4 percent amid the La Niña phenomenon, the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA) said.

Total fish unloading volume or the volume of fish shipped to different regional ports reached 48,563.31 metric tons (MT) from last month’s 46,353.97 MT, based on the PFDA’s Modified Integrated Corporate Reporting System.

The agency said deliveries went up “despite widespread moderate to heavy rains across the country due to the onset of La Niña.”

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said earlier that La Niña, albeit already weakening in the tropical Pacific Ocean, may still persist through the May-July period. It said there was still a 50 to 55 percent chance of La Niña, where several areas can get much more rain than usual.

“La Niña increases the likelihood of having above normal rainfall conditions in some areas of the country,” said Pagasa, adding that floods and landslides might occur and affect vulnerable sectors.

The General Santos Fish Port Complex, which contributed more than half of the total monthly unloading volume, saw its numbers increase by 14.51 percent to end at 25,290.48 MT.

The Navotas Fish Port Complex logged the second-highest volume across all ports this month at 15,422.19 MT, although it incurred a slight drop in terms of delivery.

It was the Iloilo Fish Port Complex that posted the largest increment as the volume of fish unloaded climbed by 24.06 percent to 2,185.75 MT.

Shipments in the Lucena Fish Port Complex went up by 6.01 percent to 1,907.91 MT.

Both the Zamboanga Fish Port Complex and the Sual Fish Port doubled their monthly volume after delivering 1,424.605 MT and 112.280 MT of fish products, respectively.

The Bulan Fish Port Complex and the Camaligan Fish Port, meanwhile, managed to ship 1,712.48 MT and 4.79 MT of fish.