Impacts of COVID-19 on the Catch of Small-Scale Fishers and Their Families Due to Restriction Policies in Davao Gulf, Philippines

Abstract

COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization in 2020 with countries putting up several measures to mitigate and flatten the curve of hospitalizations and death from travel bans to home confinements and local lockdowns. This pandemic created health and economic crises, leading to increased incidence of poverty and food crisis especially on both agriculture and the fisheries in many developing nations including the Philippines. The specific objectives of this study were to assess the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on the catch per unit effort (CPUE) of small-scale fishers and to determine what factors could influence the volume of their catch during this time of pandemic. Moreover, this also investigated the impact of COVID-19 restrictions to fishers and their families. To do that we surveyed N = 200 small-scale fishers around the Davao gulf using semi-structured questionnaire and inquired on the impact of the COVID-19 to their fishing operation, catch, fishing costs, and their families. The collected socioeconomic variables, including emotional responses to the pandemic were then related to the CPUE and the volume of catch. The results show that fishers were highly affected by the pandemic due to the lockdown policy imposed in the fishing villages during the earlier phases of restrictions by the government. Fishers were affected in terms of the volume of their catch, also fishing costs, and emotionally as they were also frustrated due to the impacts of the hard lockdown. The restricted fishing access was found to have important and major set-back on the fishing operations of fishers and the same was experienced also by the middlemen given the low fish price and reduced mobility of the fish traders. COVID-19 also impacted the fishers, and their families through lack of mobility, food inadequacy, travel restrictions and their children’s education.

Vulnerability Assessment of Pacific Whiteleg Shrimp (Penaeus vannamei) Farms and Vendors in Davao, Philippines Using FishVool

“…Aside from this, farmers were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic which limits them from getting more income. The same was true with the shrimp vendors who encountered difficulties selling their shrimp harvests for the reason of less buyers and less mobility due to the pandemic [56,57]. The shrimps from the farms were sold at lesser prices and this was not good for the farmers because their investments cannot be recouped when prices were down.…”

“…These are relevant issues that the government should look into, provide alternative livelihoods for the affected fish farmers, and help them to adapt to the possible impacts of climate change, the pandemic and give them additional financial support as well as trainings and seminars on how to adapt to the challenges that they might encounter in their aquaculture [18,56]. Also the government should help provide access to export markets and processing firms so that the farmers do not need to worry on disposing and selling their seafood products [2].…”

Typology of Small-Holder and Commercial Shrimp (<em>Penaeus Vannamei</em>) Farms, Including Threats and Challenges in Davao Region, Philippines

“…Within the study area itself, mobility restriction showed as the main health protocol during the pandemic that negatively affect aquaculture farm as well as market disruption that hampered their marketing operations [64,65]. Though in some commercial farms that have some access to the market, they are less affected by market disruption.…”

“…Accumulated pollution from watershed activities and from self-generated organic load has resulted in slower growth of shrimp, higher susceptibility to diseases, and the worst is mass mortalities [60].Presence of disease in populations and ecosystems is influenced by numerous environmental factors, including infectious organisms mostly viruses, pollutants such as chemical and biological wastes, and deficiency in essential nutrients [29]. COVID-19 restrictions and its severe economic impact [13,63,64,65].…”

Impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on the fisheries sector of Sri Lanka

“…COronaVIrus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic [1] that began in Wuhan, China in December 2019 has reached over 74 million confirmed cases over the globe by 11 June 2021 [2] and has been declared a global pandemic by WHO on 11 March 2020 [3] , [4] . Ongoing efforts to curb the spread of the pandemic have dramatically disrupted the well-being and livelihoods of billions of people globally [5] .…”