The Philippine marine and coastal waters are huge. The country has the second longest coastline in the tropical world, and fourth in the world (World Factbook). Is it doing very well in seafood and aquaculture exports? In 2013, the Philippines exported only $1,426 million worth of various fishery products, a large part of which was tuna products from fish caught outside the Philippine waters. This was higher than Malaysia’s $777M but far lower than Indonesia’s $3,894M, Vietnam’s $5,297M, and Thailand’s $6,865M. On export intensity, the record showed an export of $39,000 per kilometer of coastline for the Philippines, $71,000 per km for Indonesia, $166,000 for Malaysia, $1.2M for Thailand, and $1.5M for Vietnam! This meant Philippine export productivity was barely half that of Indonesia, a fourth that of Vietnam’s, and 1/30 that of Thailand (UN Trademap).

Dy, R. T. (2014, April 29). Seafood and aquaculture exports. BusinessWorld, pp. S1/4, S1/5.