Assessment of the Tayabas Bay Fisheries

Abstract

This technical paper discusses the results of the 10-year assessment (January 2004 to December 2013) of the fisheries of Tayabas Bay to determine the current status and level of exploitation and measure the effects of interventions introduced and implemented in the Bay and adjacent waters of Quezon and Batangas provinces. The trend of catch, effort and catch per unit effort from 2004 to 2013 showed an increase in catch attained by increasing effort, with fluctuating CPUE. The highest catch (24,622.9 MT) was attained in 2012. In 2013 the total production was 22,595.8 MT, an increase of 6.9% from the 2004 production. The fisherman’s density of 20/km for Tayabas Bay is low compared to other major fishing grounds like Lingayen Gulf, Guimaras Strait, and Manila Bay, but slightly higher than the estimates for Honda Bay and Ormoc Bay. The number of observed boat landings of all gears ranged from 13,746 MT in 2013 to 33,842 MT in 2005. The standardized annual estimated effort of the bottom set gillnet ranged from 2,199,589 MT to 7,194,394 MT. Most of the artisanal or municipal gears such as multiple hook and line (7 kg to 6 kg), drift gillnet (53 kg to 7 kg), and hook and line (9 kg to 5 kg) showed declining catch rates (CPUE). The bottom set gillnet, spear gun and surface gillnet, however, showed an increasing trend. Out of 16 species of fish analyzed, Cypselurus naresii, Rastrelliger faughni, Rastrelliger kanagurta, Decapterus tabl, Siganus canaliculatus and Upeneus sulphureus exhibited an E value exceeding 0.5, which indicates overexploitation. As to the recruitment, nine species showed bimodal recruitment while seven species showed unimodal recruitment. There are seven species that have a mean length greater than their length at first maturity, which indicates that they have contributed to the recruitment process of their stocks before they are caught