Non-reef demersal fishery catches h

Non-reef demersal fishery catches have steadily declined with rising fishing effort Catch records in the Visayan Sea was already low at 6.03 mt∙km−2 in 1948 and went down further to 2.58 mt∙km−2 in 2003A sudden decline was observed in the 1970s and showed a change in the species compositionFor example,trawl catch composition records in the Visayan Sea conducted in 2003, showed Plotosus lineatus ranked 2nd and 3rd in terms of catch (mt∙km−2) by family and species, respectively