The price of galunggong and other kinds of marine fish in the country will remain high as supply remains unstable, a Department of Agriculture (DA) spokesperson said on Sunday.

Assistant Noel Reyes said the supplies of sardines and galunggong are expected to stabilize after the lifting of the close fishing season.

"We have more than 100 percent for tilapia and milkfish while we still lack fish from the sea like galunggong and sardines because of close fishing season, Palawan has opened (for fishing) but it still takes time to harvest, one or two weeks but the supply of marine fishes will stabilize," he said in a radio interview.

"Our basis is always the price, if the price is high it means the supply is low," he added.

Reyes said based on the monitoring of the Department of Agriculture the price of galunggong in Metro Manila is around P240 per kilo, milkfish ranges from P160 to P140 and tilapia from P130 to P140 depending on the size.

He said the frozen or imported galunggong is much cheaper ranging from P200 to P220 per kilo.

Reyes said the supply of marine fishes are expected to come in from Palawan and three other fishing grounds in the country after the close fishing season is lifted.

"The declaration of the close fishing season in four fishing grounds including Palawan, Visayan sea, Sulu archipelago and Zamboanga has scientific basis, and it improves the harvest the sizes of galunggong and sardines improved," he said. Robina Asido/DMS