Fisheries industry stakeholders lamented the use of “flawed” data by government officials in arriving at the supply shortfall for small pelagic fishes, noting that it resulted in an excessive approved import volume. Rosanna Bernadette Contreras, who represents the aquaculture sector at the National Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Management Council (NFARMC), said she expressed her concerns with the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data used by government officials to assess the country’ supply situation for small pelagic fishes. “First of all, the council evaluated the basis for the computation of the shortfall. [Government officials] used PSA data. And the industry knows that the PSA data is lacking, there’s a waterloo in using that data,” Contreras said during a recent virtual news briefing.

Arcalas, J. E. Y. (2021, September 1). Govt may have relied on 'flawed' data on Q4 fish imports-NFARMC official. Business Mirror, p. A4.