Number and types of fishing gears in San Miguel Bay: Trends over time and space

• Main Authors: Hilomen, Vincent V., Luna, Cesar Z., Torres, Francisco S.B., Jr., Fragillano, Joselito, Cuesta, Michael, Jovellano, Juliet, Murillo, Homar, Crusio, Rose
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2022
• Subjects: Fisheries—Philippines—San Miguel Bay—Equipment and supplies; Fisheries—Gear selectivity—Philippines—San Miguel Bay; Agricultural and Resource Economics
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty_research/7632
• Institution: De La Salle University

A bay wide census was conducted at 79 barangays in 7 coastal municipalities bordering San Miguel Bay in the Bicol Region to determine the current number and types of fishing gear used in the bay. The results were compared with data obtained in previous assessments in 1980, 1992 and 1995 to identify important factors influencing temporal trends in use patterns of the fisheries resources in the bay. Results show that a total of 6,712 gear units distributed to at least 33 distinct gear types under 13 major types were employed in the bay. The major types of gear include 8 variants of gillnets, several types of trawl, based on size, hook and line, scissor nets, and longline. The most widely used gears in the bay were the bottom-set gillnet, crab gillnet, shrimp gillnet, mini trawl, hook and line, bottom-set longline, hunting gillnet, plain gillnet, and filter net. More than 85% of the total number of gears was based in 4 of 7 municipalities, namely, Mercedes, Siruma, Calabanga and Tinambac. The present number of fishers in the bay stands at 7,033 and translate into densities of I fisher per 16 hectares of fishing ground. The analysis of the temporal trend showed that the number of gears reported in 1995 was highly questionable and inconsistent with the rate of population growth in the coastal municipalities. When this data was disregarded, the temporal trend of the total number of gears consistently and steadily increased from I 980 to 200 I at an annual average of 3.32%, a rate consistent with population growth rates for the area. Trends in the use patterns of fisheries resources in the bay indicate a shift towards smaller gears such as increases in the number of smaller trawls, scissor nets, hook and line, and longlines in the past decade.