PUERTO PRINCESA CITY—Palawan is the country’s leading province in marine municipal fisheries production in the second quarter of the year with 59,806 metric tons (MT) of unloadings in major fishing ports, data from the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics show.

The second quarter’s production is an increase of almost 40 percent from the volume unloaded in the first quarter which was 35,923 MT, according to the BAS statistic for the period April-June 2011.

Municipal fisheries refer to fishing in municipal waters using fishing vessels of three gross tons or less, or fishing not requiring the use of fishing vessels.

Other provinces with big volume of production in the same category are Iloilo at 13,673 MT, Zamboanga City at 13,450 MT, Capiz at 12,898 MT and Surigao del Norte at 11,611 MT.

The volume of production for marine municipal fisheries of Palawan comprises 89.6 percent of the total production of the MIMAROPA region with 66,692.42 MT.

The country’s fisheries production is classified into three categories according to its source – commercial sector sharing 24.95 percent, municipal sector with 28.47 percent share, and aquaculture with the largest share of 46.58 percent.

In aquaculture, Palawan is still the number one seaweeds producing province in the country with 86,011 MT production for the 2nd quarter valued at Ph626 million.

Region IX leads in commercial fisheries, Mimaropa tops in municipal fisheries, and the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao leads in aquaculture production.