- Payaos
A payaos is a type of
fish aggregating device used inSoutheast Asia , particularly in thePhilippines . Payaos were traditionally bamboo rafts forhandline fishing beforeWorld War II , but modernsteel payaos use fish lights and fish location sonar to increase yields. While payaos fishing is sustainable on a small scale, the large scale, modern applications have been linked to adverse impacts onfish stocks .Traditional payaos
A traditional payaos is a simply constructed
bamboo raft with asuperstructure at or just below the waterline, most commonly constructed of palm fronds. Usinghand-line fishing , fishermen take advantage ofpelagic fish's attraction to floating objects. Largetuna can be caught in this manner at depths of under 300 meters, far shallower than by contemporary methods like purse seineing. Wesley A. Armstrong and Charles W. Oliver, "Recent Use of Fish Aggregating Devices in the Eastern Tropical Pacific Tuna Purse-Seine Fishery: 1990-1994," Southwest Fisheries Science Center. [http://swfsc.noaa.gov/uploadedFiles/Divisions/FRD/Fishery_Monitoring/Tuna/LJ-96-02-Text.pdf PDF] . Last accessed 20 December 2006] Before World War II anchored and drifting payaos were deployed in all Philippines regionalwaters barring the east, where strong currents prohibited it. Payaos are frequently anchored in the coastal waters, passively fishing for migrating fish.The chronic
overfishing of regional Philippine waters, combined with the low impact of shallow-water payaos fishing, has led to the establishment of theTuna Productivity Project inDavao Gulf . This will encourage traditional and environmentally sound fishing, and aims to decrease the catch of juvenile fish. [Malcolm I. Sarmiento, Jr and Cesar M. Drilon, Jr, " [http://www.bfar.da.gov.ph/legislation/fao/fao224.htm Establishment of Tuna Productivity Project in Davao Gulf] ," Republic of the Philippines (Department of Agriculture). Last accessed 20 December 2006]Modern payaos
The traditional payaos has been adapted to meet the demand for commercially sized catches. They are now commonly used in conjunction with purse seineers,
pump boat s, andgillnet fishing. The success of these methods has greatly increased the pressure on fish stocks. [Haruko Yamashita, "Problems of Export-Oriented Yellowfin Tuna Industry-Indonesia and the Philippines,"Meikai University . [http://oregonstate.edu/dept/iifet/2000/papers/yamashita.pdf PDF] . Last accessed 20 December 2006] The use of lighted payaos to attract fish has also had a large impact on catch size and profitability, [T. Yonemori, H. Yanagawa and Lui Yean Pong," " [http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/W3628E/w3628e12.htm Interactions of longtail tuna fisheries in the western South China Sea] ," Southeast Asian Fishery Development Center. Last accessed 20 December 2006] and by the 1980s over 2,000 commercial payaos were being used in theMoro Gulf alone. [A.D. Lewis, "Review of tuna fisheries and the tuna fisherystatistical system in the Philippines," Commission for the Conservation and Managementof Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific. [http://www.wcpfc.int/ipdcp/pdf/IPDCP.2004.11.Philippines_Review.pdf PDF] . Last accessed 20 December 2006] By this time most other South Pacific nations had payaos programs and were seeking to improve their designs for increased durability for use in open ocean environments. [Raymond M. Buckley, David G. Itano and Troy W. Buckley, "Fish Aggregation Device (FAD) Enhancement of Offshore Fisheries in American Samoa," Workshop on Pacific Inshore Fishery Resources. [http://www.spc.int/coastfish/Reports/Wkshop_1988_papers/BP_text_searchable/BP69_Inshore_wkshop_1988.pdf PDF] . Last accessed 20 December 2006] In particular, the drifting payaos using seines, as well as the lighted anchored payaos, catch juvenile tuna and byproduct fish, thereby affecting the lifecycle of the tuna beyond the simple loss of numbers from the catch. No international policy has been set on the placement of payaos, and many are currently deployed insea lane s, presenting a navigational hazard. The replacement of bamboo with steel cages has also increased potential danger from collision and entanglement. [Ricardo G. Sigua and Glenn D. Aguilar, "Maritime Incident Analysis Using GIS," "Journal of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies" vol. 5, October 2003. [http://www.easts.info/2003journal/papers/0778.pdf PDF] . Last accessed 20 December 2006]References
See also
*
Aquaculture
*Artificial reef
*United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
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