Fish is displayed for sale at the seafoods section of a supermarket in Quezon City. Ron Calunsod, ABS-CBN News/File. 

MANILA -- Price of bangus and tilapia slightly increased, according to the monitoring of the Department of Agriculture's Bantay Presyo.

Price of bangus is now at P150 to 250 per kilo, up from P150 to 220 from two weeks ago. Meanwhile, tilapia is now at P110 to 170 from P100 to 160 two weeks ago.

Asis Perez of Tugon Kabuhayan, a fishery group, said this might be because of the full moon, which affects volume of catch.

"Minsan mga 4 na araw yan, lumiliwanag ang buwan. During that period of time, mababa talaga ang huli ng isda natin na alat," he said.

(Sometimes the moon shines brightly at night for 4 days. During that period of time, catch really goes down.)

"Yun naman ang pagkakataon ng aquaculture na naibebenta ang produkto nila, wala sila kalaban sa merkado. So naturally, prices will adjust," Perez said.

Perez added that based on their monitoring, the supply of fish is still stable as the effect of El Niño is yet to be felt in the fishery sector.

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), meanwhile, said supply of fish is sufficient, even if the country is still at the closed fishing season.

"Kung may namo-monitor na pagtaas sa ating aquaculture activities, maaaring ma-attribute sa dahilan na limitado pa ang supply ng marine species dahil sarado pa ang major fishing grounds natin," said Nazer Briguera, spokesperson of BFAR.

(If there is an increase in aquaculture activities, this can be attributed to a limited supply of marine species because some fishing grounds are still closed.)

Major fishing grounds in Palawan and Zamboanga are closed to commercial fishing since late 2023 to allow certain fishes to repopulate. These are set to reopen this February.

"Ito siguro dahilan sa pagtaas ng aquaculture products, kasi nagshi-shift doon sa aquaculture commodities like tilapia and bangus," Briguera said.

"Kapag nagbukas naman na ang major fishing grounds natin, we expect na tataas ang supply natin sa mga pamilihan, bababa ang presyo," he added.

(This is probably why there is a rise in aquaculture products, because we are shifting to aquaculture commodities like tilapia and bangus. Once major fishing grounds reopen, we expect supply to increase and prices to drop.)

Asked if lowering the price of bangus to P50 to 70/kilo is possible once Laguna Lake opens more spaces to aquaculture, BFAR said it is hopeful about it.

"Aquaculture ay isang pamamaraan para mabawasan ang pressure sa ating captured fisheries. But in the long run, kapag naipatupad ang conservation measures natin, we expect na babalik ang inaasahan nating stable yet sustainable supplies from the captured fisheries," he said.

(Aquaculture is a way to ease pressure on captured fisheries. But in the long run, when we put conservation measures in place, we expect stable yet sustainable supplies from captured fisheries.)

Captured fisheries refer to fishes caught by big commercial vessels in the high seas.

"Posible yon kasi kung tataas produksyon natin, dadami ang supply, magiging epekto nito, bababa presyo," he said.

(That's possible because when we increase production, supply will increase, then prices will drop.)

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