Bountiful swordfish, tuna catches

A total of 324,088 kilograms of fresh fish were landed at the fish market during the second quarter this year, an increase of 33,880 kilograms (+11.7 per cent) when compared to the same quarter last year, the National Statistics Office said.

The increase in fish landings was the result of a substantial increase in swordfish catches, which registered an increase of 31,216 kilograms (+98.3 per cent), and in tuna landings which increased by 7,969 kilograms (+3.8 per cent).

On the other hand, shrimp landings dropped by 7,343 kilograms (-51.1 per cent) from 14,371 kilograms in the June quarter of 2003 to 7,028 kilograms in the June quarter this year.

Notwithstanding the increase in volume in the June quarter, the wholesale value declined marginally by Lm14,302 (-1.8 per cent) from Lm799,420 in the second quarter last year to Lm785,118 in the second quarter this year.

Increases of Lm102,763 (+113.8 per cent) in the wholesale value of swordfish landings were off-set by considerable declines in the wholesale value of shrimp and tuna landings.

These dropped by Lm41,610 (-39.0 per cent) and Lm77,525 (-14.9 per cent) respectively, when compared to the same period last year.

When compared to the month of June in 2003, the 'All Items' fresh fish price index in the month of June this year stood at 128.0, down by 22.9 points (-15.2 per cent). The decline in the price index was mainly due to the decline in the average unit price of tuna. This dropped by 22.7 per cent, from Lm2.163 per kilogram in June 2003 to Lm1.671 per kilogram in June this year.

During the second quarter of 2004, total aquaculture exports reached 354,070 kilograms, a marginal increase of 1,439 kilograms (+0.4 per cent) when compared to the 352,631 kilograms exported in the same quarter last year.