Total Number of Marine Fish Landing Centers

1. The total number of marine fish landing centers in the Philippines is 13,328, and 99.7 percent or 13,287 of them are currently operational. The remaining 41 marine fish landing centers are reported as temporarily closed, as of September 2021.

2. Majority or 12,773 (95.8%) are categorized as municipal fish landing centers, while only 555 (4.2%) are commercial fish landing centers. (Tables 1 and A)

Traditional Landing Centers is the Most Common Type of Marine Fish Landing Centers in the Philippines

1. Majority (95.3%) of the marine fish landing centers in the Philippines are considered traditional, 3.9 percent are managed by the Local Government Unit (LGU), 0.6 percent are managed by private individuals, and only 0.2 percent are managed by the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA).

2. Out of the 555 commercial marine fish landing centers, more than half (59.3%) are traditional, 22.7 percent are managed by the LGU, 15.0 percent are privately-owned, and 3.0 percent are managed by PFDA.

3. Out of the 12,773 municipal marine fish landing centers, majority (96.8%) are traditional, 3.1 percent are managed by the LGU, and 0.1 percent are managed by PFDA. (Table B)

Average Daily Fish Unloading During Peak Months

1. The average daily fish unloading during peak months for commercial marine fish landing centers in the Philippines is recorded at 26,280.21 kilograms while that in the municipal fish landing centers is at 1,734.32 kilograms. (Table 2)

2. Marine fish landing centers managed by PFDA for both commercial and municipal fishing categories had the biggest average daily fish unloading during peak months at 140,360.12 kilograms and 29,632.44 kilograms, respectively.

3. For the commercial marine fish landing centers, privately-owned fish landing centers ranked second to PFDA with an average daily fish unloading of 44,480.17 kilograms during peak months. This was followed by LGU-managed fish landing centers with 26,389.81 kilograms.

4. For the municipal marine fish landing centers, LGU-managed fish landing centers ranked second to PFDA with 4,013.25 kilograms of average daily fish unloading during peak months. This was followed by traditional landing centers with 1,636.52 kilograms. (Table C)

Average Daily Fish Unloading During Lean Months

1. The average daily fish unloading during lean months for commercial fish landing centers is recorded at 3,557.54 kilograms while that for the municipal fish landing centers is at 155.98 kilograms. (Tables 2 and 3)

2. For the commercial marine fish landing centers, privately-owned ones had the biggest average daily fish unloading of 9,772.93 kilograms during lean months of the year. PFDA-managed fish landing centers ranked second with 6,259.18 kilograms followed by LGU-managed fish landing centers with 3,658.50 kilograms.

3. For the municipal marine fish landing centers, PFDA-managed ones had the biggest average daily fish unloading of 2,116.72 kilograms during lean months. LGU-managed fish landing centers ranked second with an average daily fish unloading of 384.53 kilograms during lean months. (Table D)

DENNIS S. MAPA, Ph.D.
Undersecretary
National Statistician and Civil Registrar General

TECHNICAL NOTES

The 2021 Listing of Marine Fish Landing Centers (LMFLC) is a nationwide activity that aims to enhance the existing statistical sampling frame for the quarterly commercial and municipal fisheries surveys, that is, incorporating updated information for all units and inclusion of new ones. The existing sampling frame used for the quarterly fisheries surveys are in varying years by region from 2005 to 2013. As the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) is currently engaged in improving the conduct of fisheries surveys in the country, frame updating is necessary prior to the implementation of the redesigned fisheries surveys that aim to accurately reflect the situation of the fisheries sector.

The 2021 LMFLC covered all provinces with existing landing centers based on the existing sampling frame for fisheries surveys of the PSA. All cities and municipalities in these provinces are covered in the updating and listing activity. Landlocked provinces which do not have marine fish landing centers are not covered in the 2021 LMFLC.

Definition of Terms

1. Marine Fish Landing Center – designated place where unloading of fish catch and other aquatic products are conducted regardless of where or how the catch will be traded.

2. Category of Marine Fish Landing Center
   a. Commercial Marine Fish Landing Center – where boats of more than three (3) gross tons with fishing operations in marine waters unload their fish catch or other aquatic resources.
   b. Municipal Marine Fish Landing Center – where fishing vessels of three (3) or less gross tons (or fishing activities that do not require use of any fishing vessel) with fishing operations in marine waters unload their fish catch or other aquatic resources.

3. Type of Marine Fish Landing Center
   a. Traditional Marine Fish Landing Center – a landing center where fishermen could unload their catch and/or dock their fishing boats without any obligation or payment for the use of the place.
   b. Non-traditional Marine Fish Landing Center – a landing center managed by the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA), Local Government Unit (LGU), and private individuals/corporations wherein unloading of fish catch and/or docking of fishing boats are undertaken, usually with structures, and with fee for the use and maintenance of the place.

Geographic Coverage:

All provinces, except for the following, are covered in the 2021 LMFLC.

Data Collection Period – 01 to 30 September 2021

Reference Period – 12 months from September 2020 to August 2021

Method of Data Collection

The data collection was undertaken using the Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) technique. Both the Team Supervisor (TS) and Enumerator (EN) were provided with their android tablet. The TS’ tablet contained the existing marine fish landing center masterlist for use in the updating process, while the EN’s tablet contained the questionnaires for landing centers in operation for use in the interview of respondents/key informants.

As part of his/her responsibility in the updating process, the TS interviewed first the official or representative of the LGU who was knowledgeable of the presence and location of fish landing centers in the city/municipality. During the updating process, the TS, based on information provided by the LGU representative, updated the information in the existing masterlist by recording the responses provided such as category of the landing center, type of landing center, operations status of the landing center, and the average daily unloading during peak and lean months. The TS also recorded landing centers that were not included in the existing masterlist. The TS also took charge of going to the location itself to collect the geographic coordinates of all the fish landing centers in the updated masterlist. For landing center found to be temporarily or permanently closed for operations and cannot be located or already converted, the said operations status was updated in the masterlist.

All landing centers in-operation were visited by the EN to interview exactly five (5) respondents/key informants. The EN interviewed any combination of the following:

1. Two (2) to three (3) fisherman/boat owner/operator;

2. One (1) landing center official;

3. One (1) or two (2) officer/member of the fisherfolk organization; and/or

4. One (1) or two (2) trader/broker.