• Livelihood programs that target young families and provide cash employment should be prioritised.
• Young fishers (<32) and those with more than two children fish the most.
• Conversely, fishers who are self-employed outside the fishery do not have lower fishing effort.
• Fishers employed in alternative livelihoods have lower fishing effort than other fishers.
• High fishing pressure threatens near-shore fisheries in the Philippines with collapse.

Small-scale fishers in the Philippines are highly diverse in their fishing behavior and demographic characteristics. Understanding this heterogeneity will provide valuable insights for fisheries management efforts that could result in win–win outcomes, both for (i) improving sustainable incomes for fishers, and (ii) facilitating recovery and resilience of depleted fisheries. We determined how different socioeconomic factors were associated with fishing effort, measured as the number of fishing trips per month, in six neighboring coastal towns along the West Philippines Sea biogeographic region of the Philippines. We found that types of alternative livelihoods and fisher age were the most important factors influencing fishing effort. Employed fishers (e.g. drivers, boat operators, construction workers, carpenters, etc.) had lower fishing effort than both those without alternative livelihoods and self-employed ones (e.g. subsistence farmers/livestock raisers and small business operators). Younger fishers fished more frequently than older ones. Our study provides valuable insights for management interventions that can effectively foster transitions into alternative livelihoods to alleviate fishing pressure while providing fishers with sustainable source of income.