Cebu's fish supply can't meet demand

There are not enough fish anymore to feed the growing population of Cebu making it imperative now for the province to buy fish from other regions in the country, according to the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources recently.

BFAR-7 information officer Lou Arciaga told The Freeman that last year Cebu produced only 76,970.6 metric tons of fish, far short of the ideal 97,392.06 metric tons of fish to meet the consumption demand of the province's 3.4 million people.

"The sufficiency level of fish production in the province has been affected because Cebu is a highly urbanized area with a growing population. The supply of fish could not meet the demand," Arciaga said.

Cebu's fishing ground is smaller than those of other provinces in the region but fish meat suppliers from other regions could help fill in the deficiency, she said. Arciaga said that getting fish from other regions would not necessarily result to higher prices of fish because Cebu has long been a major fish market of fishermen from other places, including Zamboanga where prices of fish are somehow similar.

Region-wide however, Central Visayas' population of 5.8 million people consumes a total of 165,425.39 metric tons of fish as against the total meat fish production of 201,194.68 metric tons. Arciaga said the major fish caught in the region are tuna, round scad, parrotfish, mackerels, sardines, flying fish, grouper, and anchovies. Those that have been Cebu's export items are grouper, squid, shrimp, prawn and seaweed.