The price of the poor man’s fish galunggong has surged up to P300 per kilo, almost 50 percent increase from the regular P150-P180 per kilo.
The increase was attributed by local fishermen to the ongoing three-month fishing ban in various places in the country including Palawan and Zamboanga.
The Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) urged the government to lift the fishing ban as it worsens the scarcity of galunggong supply in local markets across the country.
“[I]t does not address the scarcity of fish stocks in the sea, but only fast-track the depletion because it triggers panic fishing among the large commercial fishing vessels right before the ban which would in turn expedite its exhaustion, leaving less or worse, nothing for the small fisherfolk,” local newspaper Punto quoted Pamalakaya chair Fernando Hicap as saying.
However, the Department of Agriculture sees to curb the low supply of small pelagic fish including galunggong (round scad) by importation.
The department allowed Thursday the importation of 45,000 metric tons of small pelagic fish to stabilize its price hike in the market.
“We expect these imports to come in soon so that supply in the market will increase to stabilize prices,” Noel Reyes, spokesman for the Department of Agriculture (DA), said at a press briefing.