Status and management of Philippine pelagic resources potentially shared with neighboring countries

Abstract

The fishery sector contributes significantly to the country’s economy and continues to play an important role in providing livelihood and in attaining food security. A significant amount of the sector’s contribution comes from pelagic resources that are potentially shared with other countries such as the highly migratory species of tunas, billfishes, oceanic sharks and small pelagics. An average of 1.09 M metric tonnes have been caught from 1993 to 1997 of which a great majority is being taken by commercial fishing boats numbering to about 3,416 in 1998. In this paper, the status and management of potentially shared pelagic fishery resources are presented including the problems being encountered in research and management and also the past, present and future national resource surveys.