The municipal fisheries in the Philippines are the Philippine fisheries that fall under the jurisdiction of local governments, namely cities and municipalities. This includes all fisheries on inland waters, and in waters within of the coast. While the term may technically include aquaculture activities, it is usually used to discuss capture fisheries. Municipal fisheries are restricted to boats of 3 gross tonnes or smaller, and commercial fishing vessels are generally prohibited from fishing in these waters.
A variety of commodities are caught within municipal waters, from high-value products such as tuna to smaller species caught for domestic consumption. Most municipal fisherfolk work on an individual basis, some with simple fishing methods. While municipal fisheries are crucial for domestic nutrition and livelihoods, most fisherfolk are poor. While municipal fisheries once made up the majority of fishery output, by 2020 they produced only about a fifth of national production.
Municipal fisheries have historically been heavily overfished, especially as fishing industrialized after World War II. Various efforts were made over time to ensure the sustainability of municipal fisheries, with current law under the Fisheries Code of 1998 banning commercial fishing from municipal waters and charging local governments with ensuring fisheries are sustainable. Local governments can implement more stringent regulations than the national baseline, as well as establish protected areas and closed seasons within their waters.
Definition and subsectors
The Philippines is an archipelagic state whose over 7,000 islands of roughly are surrounded by of coastline supporting a large coastal population. The fisheries in the Philippines that are either inland or within of the shore are classified as municipal fisheries, falling under the jurisdiction of cities and municipalities. The marine subsector is much larger.
Inland waters include of swamplands ( freshwater, brackish), of lakes, of rivers, and of reservoirs. There are 23 lakes over in the country. 74% of all lake area comes from just three: the Laguna de Bay, the Lake Lanao, and the Taal Lake. Other notable lakes include Naujan Lake (), Lake Buhi (), Lake Bato (), Lake Mainit (), Lake Wood (), Lake Dapao (), and Lake Buluan ().
Coastal waters include on continental shelf of deep or less. Highly productive due to large amounts of sunlight, and stable and warm temperatures, the country's marine waters are highly diverse and are part of the Coral Triangle. The Verde Island Passage is possibly the most diverse marine area on the planet. There are of coral reefs in the country. Reef fish provide between 15% and 30% of municipal fisheries catch, with some islands relying on reefs for as much as 70% of their catch. There are 19 seagrass species, with seagrass meadows covering up to 24% of territorial waters. The value of marine ecosystem services is thought to be around US$966.6 billion.
Municipal fisheries are defined as "fishing in coastal and inland waters with or without the use of boats that are 3 gross tonnes or less". These boats can be motorized, or non-motorized using paddles or sails. Municipal fisherfolk as defined by the Philippine Fisheries Act of 1998 are those directly or indirectly involved in municipal fisheries. This has strong overlaps with the concepts of "artisanal fisheries" and "small-scale fisheries". Fisherfolk include those working in capture fishing, aquaculture, vending, gleaning, and processing, and other activities related to fisheries. About half of registered municipal fisherfolk are involved in capture fisheries. The Luzon and Visayas areas have significant numbers of small-scale fisheries. While aquaculture generally occurs in municipal waters, it is generally distinct from capture fisheries.
Resources + Municipal fisheries commodities caught in 2022 Commodity Volume (metric tons) Value (PhP) Tuna 140,103.26 18,898,439,330 Sardines 104,234.43 5,038,427,320 Bigeye scad 76,693.27 8,984,019,300 Tilapia 52,126.25 4,529,873,220 Mackerel 49,085.92 6,814,707,220 Squid 48,243.03 7,153,945,200 Roundscad 39,230.16 4,353,897,360 Anchovies 38,135.03 3,176,632,410 Threadfin bream 29,025.99 4,536,034,960 Crab 28,227.72 5,295,086,930 Other 521,407.16 58,877,481,490 TOTAL 1,126,260.26 127,633,024,410
Municipal fisherfolk are often generalists, fishing for demersal and pelagic species, with demersal fish likely underestimated in official statistics, and potentially making up between half and almost all catch depending on location. Demersal fish are often coral reef inhabitants, and not a target of commercial fisheries.
The most caught and most valuable product fished is tuna. Other important marine fisheries include those of bigeye scad, mackerel, and squid. Inland, the most produced and valuable commodity is tilapia, followed by mudfish. Snails are the third most caught by volume but have far less value than any of the other top 10 largest inland catches.
Small pelagic species are the most commonly caught for low-cost domestic consumption, while large pelagic species are often of higher value. Large pelagic species found in the country include three shallow water tuna species: the frigate tuna, bullet tuna, and eastern little tuna. The most fished small pelagic species is Bali sardinella, followed by roundscad, bigeye scad, squid, and anchovies. Commonly fished demersal species are threadfin bream, slipmouths, blue crab, groupers, rabbitfish, spadefish, and catfish.
The cheap but nutritious sardine fishery consists of nine species, although there are six main ones: Bali sardinella, Goldstripe sardinella, white sardinella, spotted sardinella, white sardine, and fimbriated sardines. The most fished small pelagic species is Bali sardinella, followed by roundscad, bigeye scad (and others of the Carangidae family), squid, and anchovies (of the Stolephorus genus). Other small pelagics include mackerels of the Rastrelliger genus, round herrings of the Clupeidae family, fusiliers of the Caesionidae family, flying fish, halfbeaks, Indian oil sardines, and Indian mackerel. Their presence is generally seasonal. From 1991 to 2001, 37% of small pelagic fish caught were from municipal fisheries.
The country has 51 swimming crab species, 7 of which are fished for market. The blue crab Portunus pelagicus makes up 90% of all catches, with the rest is mostly made up of Portunus sanguinolentus, Charybdis feriata, Charybdis natator, Scylla oceanica, Scylla serrata, and Podophthalmus vigil. Non-marketed species are often caught as by-catch, or in the case of Thalamita species, by hand.
There are significant fisheries for the Acetes shrimp, Penaeus monodon, Penaeus merguiensis, Penaeus semisulcatus, Metapenaeus ensis, and Trachypenaeus fulvus. The details of squid fisheries are not clear, although it is thought the most common of the seven commonly fished species is the bigfin reef squid. The other harvested squid species from the Loliginidae family are Uroteuthis bartschi, Uroteuthis duvaucelii, Swordtip squid, and Uroteuthis singhalensis. Also harvested are Sepia pharaonis and Sepia esculenta. Octopus species include Amphioctopus membranaceus.
Other harvested commodities include sea urchins such as Tripneustes gratilla, sea cucumbers such as Holothuria scabra, Trochidae and related species such as Rochia nilotica, windowpane oyster, abalone (Haliotis asinina), and seven species of giant clams: Tridacna gigas, Tridacna derasa, Tridacna squamosa, Tridacna maxima, Tridacna crocea, Hippopus hippopus, and Hippopus porcellanus. There is also a specific market for ornamental shells. Snails were at one point harvested in large quantities through dredging in Laguna de Bay to feed local duck farms. After years of decreasing collection, they formed 50% of the lake's output by weight in 1973, but only 3% of the output's value.
Methods
Most municipal fishing is done on an individual basis. Common fishing gear includes gillnets, handlines, fish traps, and ringnets. The cost involved in capture fisheries are mostly operational, with less than 10% being fixed costs like licenses, taxes, and fees. As of 2020, there were 267,807 municipal fishing vessels, most of which are bangka that are either motorized or sail/paddle powered. Some municipal fishing is also carried out from bamboo rafts called payao which function as fish aggregating devices.
Artificial reefs are also used to aggregate catch in municipal waters. Such devices are usually owned by a specific person or company, and can boost catch by around 35%. Large fishing light attractors known as "superlights" are used to attract species such as the squid Uroteuthis bartschi.
Most inland fishing boats, which ply brackish waters, estuaries, lakes, reservoirs, and rivers, are smaller than 3 gross tonnes. Common inland fishing gear includes cover pots, fish traps, pole-and-line, lift nets, push nets, skimming nets, cover nets, gillnets, dredging tools, beach seines, cast nets, and ringnets. In 2012, inland fisheries caught 62% fish, 33% mollusks (such as snails), and 5% crustaceans (such as shrimps and prawns). Some municipal fisherfolk continue to rely on traditional methods, including hook-and-line fishing, beach seines, small nets and traps, fish corrals, hand spears, and the manual collection of seaweed and invertebrates. Some fish caught in inland waters are likely escapees from aquaculture pens.
Otter and beam trawling now mostly target shrimp. Trawls small enough to be deployed by boats smaller than 3 GT are known as baby trawls. Those boats smaller than 2 GT are also sometimes called mini-trawlers. Municipal fishery catch is usually sold directly in smaller ports, sometimes to middlemen who transport them to nearby communities.
Productivity As of 2020, 22.34% of the country's total fisheries production was from municipal capture fisheries. This came from 952,188.62 tons of marine fisheries and 150,073.74 tons of inland fisheries. The municipal fisheries sector grew 2.65% from 2021 to 2022.
Inland capture fisheries are relatively minor nationally, but are important for their local communities. They saw the capture of an average of 0.26 million tons a year in the 1980s, which decreased to 0.19 million tons in the 1990s, and 0.15 million tons in the 2000s. The 0.16 million tons produced in 2018 was about 1% of the global inland catch.
By region From 2013 to 2022, municipal capture fishery production has declined across 10 of the 17 regions, most significantly in the Central Visayas region where production decreased 42.61% (32,867.51 metric tons) over that time. Production in Bangsamoro, Metro Manila, and the Davao Region went against the overall trend, increasing during this time.
In 2022, the region with the highest productivity from municipal fisheries is Bangsamoro, which has the second largest marine municipal fisheries sector, producing 120,723.92 metric tons in 2022, and the largest inland municipal fisheries sector, producing 65,440.61 metric tons in 2022. The Zamboanga Peninsula has the second largest overall municipal fishery, almost completely from its 123,284.58 metric ton marine municipal fishery, although the municipal fisheries of the Western Visayas region were of the second greatest value. The inland Cordillera Administrative Region has a small inland municipal fisheries sector producing only 539.15 metric tons. The only other region with more productive inland fisheries than coastal fisheries is Calabarzon, with a 35,047.27 metric ton inland fishery and a 31,871.12 metric ton marine fishery in 2022.