Thesis (BS Agribusiness Economics) -- University of the Philippines Mindanao, May 2019

The Philippines is considered as one of the top fish-producing countries in the world which gives employment to the majority of the Filipinos, but is experiencing a decline in the total volume of fish production both in commercial and municipal fisheries in the country. As majority of the fish catch comes from the municipal fisheries which mainly uses small-scale fishing operations, the researcher identified the Municipality of Maitum, Sarangani Province as the locale of the study. It is abundant in the supply and production of flying fish, locally known as bangsi, a small maritime species of fish categorized under municipal fisheries. Value chain and cost and return analyses were used to identify the actors involved in the chain and determine and compare the costs and profitability of flying fish across chain actors and among value-added products. The actors identified were fishermen, processors, brokers/financiers, retailers, talipapa, and enablers. Results for the cost and return analysis showed the fishermen are at loss during low catch event because total cost is greater than their gross return and the value-added product with the highest cost of production is the marinated bangsi. Moreover, the processors have the largest net margin among all the actors in the chain. With the analyses conducted, physical and natural constraints, and issues in the production and quality of fish were determined. An entity that deals with the lack of information for market logistics for fishermen and adaptation of new technologies is one of the recommended interventions.