CLIMATE change has been identified as one of the biggest threats to Philippine fish production for the past three years, the Department of Finance (DOF) said in its economic bulletin on fisheries production.
"Climate change may be the biggest factor in the production of fisheries," DOF said in a statement.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed that there was a decrease in total fish production in the country between 2015 and 2016. Fish production declined by 5.62 percent to 4.194 million metric tons (MT) in 2016 from 4.444 million MT in 2015.
In a statement, DOF said the decline is attributed to the severe drought in 2015 and early 2016.
DOF added during El Nino episodes, water temperature rises which induces fish to move to colder and deeper waters.
Rough seas brought by typhoons and long monsoon rains add as factors for lower fish production due to the danger the weather imposes, DOF said in a statement.
There was also a slight decline in 2017 where fisheries production was down by 1 percent to 4.150 million MT from 4.194 million MT in 2016.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO),“climate change imperils the structure and function of already stressed coastal aquatic ecosystems. Estuaries, coral reefs, mangroves and sea grass beds are critical for production of wild fish. In freshwater systems, ecosystem health and productivity is linked to water quality and flow and the health of wetlands.”
Meanwhile, DOF also reported that fish consumer price index inflation rose by 7.5 percent in 2017 and 12.1 percent in the first quarter of 2018. In June 2018, fish CPI rose to 11.2 percent and contributed to 0.6 percentage points to the total inflation.
The gross value added of fishing to GDP continued to register negative growth at 4 percent and 0.9 percent drop in 2016 and 2017, respectively.
In the first quarter of 2018 the data also showed a gross value added of fishing further declined by 3.7 percent.
“Since 2011 the growth of fisheries production started to decline. In 2017, among the three subsectors of fisheries, only aquaculture has registered positive growth 1.7 percent,” the DOF said.
Data from PSA showed that aquaculture production grew to 2.23 million MT in 2017 from 2.2 million MT in 2016.