Fishery Resources

THE PHILIPPINE
MARINE FISHERY RESOURCES
What Will Remain for the Children of the 21st Century?

Resource Depletion

Overfishing is another concern that contributes largely to the depletion of the country’s fishery resource. The National Statistical Coordination Board, in its effort to compile environmental and natural resources accounting in the country, revealed that the Philippine marine fishery resource started to dwindle in 1986. During the year, resource depletion was recorded at 3.2 thousand metric tons. This then increased heftily to 69 thousand metric tons in 1987 registering a growth of 2,202.8 percent. Also, note from the table below that resource depletion continued to increase up to 1992 but went down by 14.3 percent in 1993.

ESTIMATED RESOURCE DEPLETION OF THE PHILIPPINE
MARINE FISHERY RESOURCE, 1986-1993

The maximum sustainable yield is estimated to be 1.658 million metric tons. This corresponds to a fishing effort that is equivalent to 531,206 horsepower. Analyzing further the results, it can be deduced that the maximum sustainable yield of the resource was reached between the early period of 1986 and 1987. It can be observed from the figure below that the fishing effort (expressed in horsepower) follows the same trend of sustainable yield. The sustainable yield exhibited a declining trend from 1.623 million metric tons in 1986 to 1.578 million metric tons in 1992. It, however, increased to 1.604 million metric tons in 1993 at a rate of 1.3 percent. The fishing effort, in a similar manner, exhibited a declining trend from 1986 to 1992, then went up in 1993 by 6.5 percent.

ESTIMATED FISHING EFFORT, 1986-1993

Combining the sustainable yield and the fishing effort in a graphical presentation, a bell-shaped curve can be obtained signifying the intersection between the ideal level of fishing effort that will correspond to the harvest of the resource that is within the carrying capacity (sustainable level) of the ecosystem.

PHILIPPINE MARINE FISHERY RESOURCE

Net Rent

To estimate the monetary value of the resource, the depletion was valued using the Net Price Method at producer’s price. The cost of resource depletion, or the Net Rent, accounts only for the years where there is resource depletion. In this case, the Net Rent (at current prices) covers the period 1986 to 1993. It is computed by simply multiplying the unit net price of the resource by the estimated volume of resource depletion. Note from the graph below that the cost of resource depletion exhibited an increasing trend.

ESTIMATED NET RENT, 1986-1993

The cost of resource depletion, or net rent, in 1986 was estimated at P4.5 million and surged to P1.106 billion by 1992. It then declined to P1.073 billion in 1993 at a rate of 2.9 percent.

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