Last week I wrote about the reef fishes and fisheries of the Spratlys. For this week, I would like to follow up on the pelagic fishery. At the outset I would like to say that very little information on the pelagic fishery has been published, and more research needs to be done on this fishery.
Available statistics on catch estimates of pelagic fisheries refers to two tuna species, the yellow fin and the bigeye, by Lewis (1995) and cited by Aliño et al. (1997). In 1980-1985 and 1992, the average number of fish caught per month was 64 for yellowfin and 302 for bigeye. The estimated weight in tons for yellowfin ranged from 0.13 to 29.98 metric tons per year; those of bigeye ranged from 1.09 to 73.8 metric tons per year. No data on fish catch of other species in the area of Scarborough have been accessible to me, but it is common knowledge that fishers from Masinloc, Zambales depend on fishing activities for their income and livelihood.
The potential annual revenue from pelagic fishery was given in Aliño et. al. (1997) quoting estimates from various sources. The estimates ranged widely from 5.4 to 30 million U.S. dollars per year, based on the annual catch of tunas, which varied from 6,000 metric tons to 33,000 metric tons. Aliño et al. (1997) estimated the value based on Lewis (1993) as 12-18 million dollars annually. If the value of reef fisheries, estimated at 12,000 to 20,000 metric tons per year, is 12-20 million dollars and is added to that of pelagic fish, the total annual past value of the total fisheries in the Spratlys could be at least about 24-38 million U.S. dollars.
There are other invertebrate species taken by fishermen such as sea cucumbers and giant clams for which no data are available and cannot be valued.
Even though the true value of pelagic fisheries is not known, it appears that the total fisheries of the Spratlys are quite substantial.
_______________________________
Author’s email: [email protected]
