By Celeste Anna R. Formoso
PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Oct. 22 (PNA) -– The city government here and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) have launched the livelihood program “Payao Fish Project” in a bid to bring sustainable fishing income to fishermen in coastal barangays.
Payao, a fish aggregating device (FAD), is placed in the water for the purpose of facilitating the accretion and attraction of fishes for harvest, which has long been associated with Filipino fishermen.
On Monday, Mayor Lucilo Bayron, during the the program’s launching at the Puerto Princesa City Port (PPCP), said about 50 FADs will be installed to help the fishermen of coastal barangay Bagong Silang and other nearby areas that depend on fishing for livelihood.
He said the FADs are either floating of submerged devices that can bring the fishes to abound under any floating materials, like bushes, logs, and others that are safe for them.
Two types of FADs are popularly used in the country. One is the artificial reef, and the other the common “payao” that is like a floating buoy made of steel or bamboo with coconut leaves underneath and affixed on the sea ground with “considerable depth.”
He explained that when the FADs are placed in the water, algae form by attaching to anything that is floating and attracts smaller fishes that consume them. In turn, they attract large fishes that can be harvested by fishermen.
In researches, it has been proven that the FADs have increased the catch fishes like tuna and others normally found in the open sea, or those commonly residing in ocean beds.
The mayor of Puerto Princesa said that the launching of the payao fish project “is a dream come true” of his Apuradong Administrasyon for fishermen that was funded by the DOLE with Secretary Rosalino Baldoz, who personally attended.
“Our aim is to provide sustainable livelihood to fishermen in the city, and we thank the DOLE for helping us realize this dream for them,” he said, adding he proposed the project not a long time ago during a Forum on Good Governance, Transparency and Accountability.
Initially, 30 FADs have already been installed, Bayron said, with 20 others being readied for delivery in Puerto Princesa.
Aside from the FADs, the Puerto Princesa government under the Apuradong Administrasyon, and in cooperation with DOLE, also funded a fish cage project that is an alternative, sustainable and environment-friendly method of fishing.
Bayron explained that both are projects in preparation for the construction of the Puerto Princesa Fish Port in Barangay Mangingisda – also one of the dreams of his administration.
“Hindi bukas, kundi ngayon (Not tomorrow, but today) is why we want to implement these projects for our fishermen,” he added.
Baldoz, the secretary of DOLE, assisted the city in the FAD project by allowing it a government funding of over P2 million.
With the project, she said the fishermen will also be safe from going further out to sea, where their lives can also be in danger, especially if there are strong weather conditions.
She furthered that the project can also help tourism by having the chain effect of bringing tourists since food, particularly fish-based will be sold at affordable prices. (PNA)