Fish in the Philippines

Fish is one of the product of our market.

It is abundant in any part of the world. It

is also a basic food that can be turned

into different recipes with different

tastes. Moreover, fish is a delicious food

and it gives us such good nutrients and

energy.

Are you fond of eating fish? Aside

from being delicious, fish is a food of

excellent nutritional value, and it makes

a very significant contribution to the

diet of many fish-consuming Filipinos.

A balanced diet 1s never complete

without any dish made of fish. You can

fry galunggong, steam lapulapu, make

dilis into kinilau, or grill bangus.

We just can't do away with fish. It

provides high quality protein and a wide

variety of vitamins and minerals,

of including vitamins A and D, phosphorus,

magnesium, selenium, and iodine. Fish

is also a valuable source of essential fatty

acids and its protein is easily digestible.

But have you ever wondered

big and small species of fish make their

way to different fishing ports and

markets and onto our dining tables?

Fishermen catch fish of different

kinds and of different sizes in seas,

oceans or rivers. But many of the fishes

that have become part of our day-to-

day delicacies come from fishponds

being managed by fishermen themselves

or by fishpond owners.

There is no mystery as to why our

country is home to rich fish varieties,

making us the 8th highest in fish

production in the world, 2nd in the Asian

region with China as the highest in

seaweed production, and 11th highest in

aquaculture among the 80 fish-

producing countries of the world.

Credit this to the Philippines, being an

archipelagic country of 7,107 islands,

which is endowed with vast aquatic

resources. Its sea area is about seven

mes larger than its land area ot

300,000 km². The country's marine

resources of coral reefs, mangroves, and

1sh stocks consist of 220 million ha

Within the Exclusive Economic Zone.

Of these, 26.6 million ha are coastal and

193.4 million ha are oceanic waters. T he

Continental shelf area is about 18.46

million ha. The length of the coastline

is 17,560 km.