Food security advocacy group Tugon Kabuhayan urged the government to allow more funds to improve the data collection and production of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) to provide policy-makers with a better picture of the country’s fish supply situation.
“[In order] to generate more accurate data, the Neda [National Economic and Development Authority] and the national government must hike the budget of the PSA to review how they capture fisheries data,” the group said in its fortnightly virtual news briefing on Monday.
“They probably need more people in fishery stations. We have to understand that fisheries stations or unloading, especially for municipal fishers, are scattered all over the country. They really have to be grounded, in fact be below the ground water where the data is,” the group added.
Citing reports from the ground, the group claimed that the PSA’s data on fisheries production are too conservative. For example aquaculture production in Davao doesn’t capture even half of the total output of the aquaculture fishers in the region, according to Tugon Kabuhayan.
The group said there is no worry in the PSA’s data collection for commercial fishing since these vessels unload in government ports. However, they pointed out that data gathering for municipal fishing would be difficult since small-scale fishermen are scattered in the country.
“How do they estimate that? And even the data for aquaculture is too low. For example, the PSA’s production estimate for Taal Lake is far from the production on ground. The same is happening in Davao,” it said.
Tugon Kabuhayan warned that the government is running the risk of coming up with wrong policy decisions on fisheries, such as on importation, if they are basing on unrealistic data.
For one, the group maintained that the country has sufficient fish stocks since it is able to export to Europe and other countries.
“That is really the implication [on policy-making]. For example, the government has no estimate on our fisheries inventory,” the group said, adding that the Philippines can learn how Europe handles its fisheries data.
“We believe that there is really no shortage. But it is up to the government to allow importation or not,” it added.
The group also urged the government to expand its value-adding programs for the fisheries sector to increase employment and income.
For example, the deboning of bangus alone could generate at least 7,500 jobs with an estimated additional monthly income generation of P112 million at a P15,000 per month average salary per employee.
Image courtesy of Nonie Reyes
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