Fish price in Bohol, which has been a hot subject in a series of Provincial Board (PB) inquiries last year, dropped in the past week after continuously drawing flak from the public for being exorbitant.
The purported decrease in the prices of aquamarine products was reported by assistant provincial agriculturist Larry Pamugas to Gov. Edgar Chatto during a Provincial Price Monitoring Council meeting Monday.
According to Pamugas, commonly bought fish such as burot-burot and tamban are now being sold at P120 and P60 per kilo, respectively, at markets in various towns and in Tagbilaran City.
The report was based on monitoring conducted by the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist, he said.
Pamugas in his brief statement however did not specify the towns where the lower fish prices prevailed.
He ascribed the decrease in prices to growing fish supply which in turn has drawn more fishermen to operate.
However, Pamugas said that “high-end” fishes such as malasugui and tuna which are the commonly consumed variants in resorts and hotels are priced at above P300 per kilo.
The provincial official admitted that fishes in December last year were “extraordinarily” expensive particularly due to the cold weather brought by two weather disturbances that affected Bohol.
Expensive fish in Bohol has been a source of constant debates among officials from various agencies in the past months.
It even prompted the PB’s agriculture committee to launch a series of inquiries which was attended by various stakeholders in the industry.
While some quarters in government claimed that fish prices were controlled by a cartel, other officials including Department of Trade and Industry 7 director Aster Caberte previously pinpointed scarcity in supply as reason behind expensive fish in the province.
Amid low supply, fishes gathered in Bohol were also mostly supplied in Cebu due to numerous buyers who purchase in bulk making it easier for fishermen to sell all their products, Caberte said. (rt)