BENEFITS DERIVED FROM AND PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED IN THE USE OF "PAYAW" AMONG TUNA FISHERMEN IN THE PHILIPPINES

by Prospero C. Pastoral Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources 860 Quezon Avenue, Quezon City, Philippines

I ABSTRACT

This paper deals with the introduction of payaw, the principles it involves as a fish aggregating device, the description of the different modes of operation ofpayaw users, the different fishing gears benefiting from payaw, the source of conflict and approaches for effective reduction of conflicts.

1. Introduction Traditionally, the payaw or fish shelter (otherwise known as a Fish Aggregating Device or FAD) and its prototypes have been used by Filipino sustenance fishermen. Originally payaw units were set along shallow sections of coastal waters. However, some sustenance fishermen who recognized the potential and effectiveness of payaw, have ventured to go into deeper waters by introducing some modifications in its construction and design. The effectiveness of the payaw depends basically on the following three physico-biological principles: a. Fish are attracted to light. b. Small fish seek shelter and feed on algae which grow in payaw; bigger fish are attracted by the presence of small fish and feed on them (food chain or prey-predator relationship). c. Fish have a sheltering or harboring behavior. in 1976, purse seine operators adopted the use of payaw in commercial numbers. This revolutionized the method of catching tuna and tuna-like species, thereby increasing tremendously the tuna production so that at one time the Philippines was the number one tuna exporter. At present, there are about 10 purse seine operators; notable among these are such fishing companies as Frabelle, Rabelim (Philippines), Tuna Venture and Tuna Princess. Each of these owns 100 to 300 units ofpayaw at a cost running from P70,000 to IP200,OOO each. Thepayaw are made of steel and set beyond 18 km (10 nautical miles) or more from the shoreline. Thepayaw have proliferated in fishing grounds especially in the Mindanao Sea, Moro Gulf, Sulu Sea and Luzon Sea. The unabated proliferation of payaw has created serious problems among payaw operators.

2. Definition/evolution of the payaw The payaw is a fish shelter operated by fishermen designed to attract or lure fish. It is described as an anchored floating or.submerged material or raft usually made of bamboo, steel or other materials underneath which is a line or lines with sinkers to which are attached coconut leaves, twigs, bunches of branches of trees, plastic strips, netting or the like. The payaw as it is known today has evolved from a simple fish shelter locally called tangkal, bonbon or arong (Fig.1) which is set in shallow portions of coastal waters (Fig. 1). The tangkal is made of a bamboo quadrupod with tree branches at the tip while the lower portion is weighted down by bags of sand, stones or boulders. The line fishing operators are mostly benefited from the tangkal. Then the bonbon/arong emerged to benefit gear such as ringnet, handline and gillnet. The tuna purse seine operators have lately benefited tremendously from the use of thepayaw (the bamboo raft or the steel buoy) (Figs. 1 and 2). The search for tuna in the sea has been minimized through the use of the payaw, leading to the increase of tuna production. .*.&&;. . TANGKAL

SINGLE LAYER RAFT J

SINGLE LAYER RAFT WYAW ::: OUBLE LAYER RAFT OIL RIGGED 6RUM

RECTANGULAR STEEL PAYAW

'Fig I Evolution of "payaw." BAMBOO RAFT 30 pcs X 9 m long

TRUCK TIRE RIM

16mm dia X 36 m -Buri /coconut fronds

DOUBLE - EYED S GUIDE ROPE 16 mm dia X 20 ( Poly prop y kne 12 mm ANCHOR ROPE ( Polyethebnr or pclyprop yl 16 mm dia ( length depends upon depth ot location.)

SUSPENSION WEIGHT OR TIRE INTO ROPE 0 r DOUBLE EYED SWIVEL - ( POLYPROP YLENE ROPE 16mm dfa X 20 cm 16mm. dia 27 - 36 m long

CEMEN

ANCHORS -5 DCS drums I: 200 L coo each 1

I Fig I1 A typical bamboo payaw (fish shelter) 3. Parts of a typical bamboo-raft payaw (Fig. 2) a. Anchor line The anchor line is made of two parts. The upper part consists of a steel cable 36 m long and 16 mm diameter with a hemp center; the lower part (anchor rope), of polyethylene or polypropylene rope is 16 mm in diameter with the length determined at the ratio of 1:2 to 13with the depth of the water. One end of the steel cable is shackled to a truck tire rim located near the wider portion of the raft; the other end.is-an eye splice to which one end of the anchor rope is shackled. The anchors are attached by swivels to the other end of the anchor rope. Along the anchor rope suspension weights are attached to keep it from floating. If the anchor rope is long enough so as to comprise 4 to 6 rolls of rope of 400 m each, suspension weights are attached by a swivel to the joints after every 2 rolls of rope. To the eye splice which joins the steel cable to the polypropylene rope is also shackled a guide rope of synthetic fiber 12 mm in diameter, the other end of which is tied to the raft. b. Suspension Weights The suspension weights are used to keep the anchor rope Submerged. These are made of a mixture of cement, sand and gravel molded in an empty kerosene can of 20 liter capacity. Each one has around 40 to 50 kg air weight. At each of the two ends of this cement block is a swivelor a built-in eye made of galvanized iron with 16 mm diameter and is 20 cm long to prevent the anchor rope from sinking. It serves also as a shock absorber as the raft moves up and down with the motion of the waves and the wind. The suspension weights are needed because polypropylene rope tends to float especially during slack time of the current since the anchor line is always longer than the depth to the sea bed. Another reason for the use of suspension weights is to prevent the anchor line from entangling with the guide rope. c. Main Anchor Weight The weight used in anchoring the raft is a first class mixture of cement-gravel-sand which is molded in an empty oil drum or a big box. Embodied in the mixture and protruding half-way on top of it is a split exterior tire rim which serves as an eye and to which the anchor line is shacked with a swivel. The cement block is reinforced with iron bars to keep it intact in case it cracks. An anchor of this kind has around 480 to 500 kg air weight. Several anchor weights are attached to the anchor line, depending on the depth: 3 to 4 anchor weights are used in depths of 1,500 to 2,000 m; 5 to 6 anchor weights in depths of 2,300 to 2,500 m. These anchor weights are each tied to the end of the anchor rope with 9 to 18 m steel cables. d. Habong This is a polypropylene rope of 16 mm diameter and is 27 to 36 m long. At one end, a 10 kg weight, made of mixed cement, is tied. Buri fronds, or the like, are tied along the length of therope at 1 to 2 m intervals. The habong is the principal feature of the payaw. It serves as the main attraction for fish.

4. Different modes of operation of payaw users a. Commercial Tuna Purse Seiners as Payaw Users Commercial fishing companies of tuna purse seiners are based mostly at Navotas, Metro Manila. Each company has, aside from a number of purse seiners or catcher vessels, refrigerated fish carriers, tenders and rangers. The fenders are usually 100 GT vessels which are used to install payaw units, to locate good payaw sites, replace lost payaw and lastly to serve as look-out for the payaw. The rangers are 30 to 50 GT wooden boats which are equipped with satellite navigation instruments and a sonar. The main catcher vessel (purse seiner), usually a reconditioned Japanese mackerel purse seiner, is a 250 to 450 GT. It stays at the fishing ground the whole year round. It operates from one fishing ground to another, i.e., from the Sulu Sea to the Mindanao Sea, depending on the prevailing monsoon and the abundance of tuna. The purse seiner has one setting operation per day, us.ual1 done before sunrise. It usually takes 3 to 4 hours to complete a fishing operation from setting to brailing. The catch per setting averages 6, 12, 14 mt per day for the Luzon Sea, the Mindanao Sea and the Sulu Sea, respectively. A commercial tuna purse seine unit consists of the main catcher vessel (purse seiner), refrigerated fish carriers, payaw tenders and rangers. The ratio of the number ofpayaw units to a purse seiner is 30: 1 or 50: 1. The reason for having more than 30 units assigned to a catcher vessel is to ensure payaw with hawestable tuna every day for a month. It takes one to twd weeks to aggregate enough fish to a payaw. Thus after a month the firstpayaw is ,again ready for harvest. A ranger boat is manned by a captain, an engineer and three seamen. The captain, through the sonar, surveys and inspects each payaw to find out which has the most commercially harvestable tuna and relays the information to the catcher vessel. The success of a tuna purse seine operation depends largely on the initiative and diligence of the captain and the crew of the ranger vessel. They are given incentive pay for every 50 kg of fish caught. Payaw units are installed in waters 1$00 to 3,000 m deep, 15 to 50 km from the shoreline. They are concentrated along the migratory paths of tuna such as the Moro Gulf, Mindanao Sea, Bohol Sea, Sulu Sea and Luzon Sea. Purse seining companies when setting payaw commonly observe a 4 to 9 km distance between two payaw units. The pioneers such as Frabelle, Rabelim Fishing Companies have established their payaw zone (Moro Gulf) from which newcomers shy away and look for other sites (Sulu Sea and Luzon Sea). These companies also use the ranger boats to patrol the payaw to make certain that tuna handliners, who are allowed to fish within payaw zones, do not operate too close to apayaw so as to avoid entanglement of handlines with the main anchor lines of payaws. b. Commercial Ring Netters as Payaw Users A commercial vessel using a ring net is made of wood. It is 30 to 50 GT and usespayaw as an accessory to the gear. A company maintains 10 to 20 units of payaw. It has a motorized banca (wooden dugout) which is used as apayaw tender and a motorized ranger banca with outriggers. The latter performs the same activities as previously discussed but in a less sophisticated way. Thepayaw units are installed in 180 to 600 m depth, 2 to 10 km from the shore. They are commonly found in Davao Gulf, the Maguindanao coastal area, Sarangani Bay, Tayabas Bay, Tablas Strait and in Masinloc, Zambales. Commercial ring netters as payaw users prefer to employ commercial purse seiners to harvest fish from their payaw for a fee or a percentage of the catch. A typical ringnet has a length of 400 m and a depth of 100 m stretched at the center while a tuna purse seine measures 1,100 m long and 210 meters deep and therefore covers a wider area. The catch of a ring netter ranges from 1 to 3 mt per setting, while a purse seiner can catch from 8 to 50 mt per setting. The usual share given a purse seiner for its services ranges from 68% to 75% of the harvest. The agreed share is received in kind right at the site of fishing operation and loaded shipside. c. Municipal Tuna Handliners as Payaw Users These are sustenance handliners with 1 to 3 units of payaw installed in 100 to 400 m depth from 1 to 4 km from the shore. These are commonly found around Marinduque and Quezon province facing Tayabas Bay, Mompog pass and Tablas Strait. The handliners seek the ring netters and/or purse seiners to harvest for them at a certain percentage of the catch: The harvesters usually get from 20% to 30% of the catch in kind as their share right at the fishing ground. d. Fishermen's Cooperatives as Payaw Users There are fishermen's cooperatives which maintain two or morepayaw units located in shallow waters for the exclusive use of their members. Their gears consist of handlines, trolls and gill nets (drift and encircling). A percentage ranging form 20% to 25% of the gross sale of fish caught by members is deducted for payaw maintenance and replacement. A typical example is found at Currimao, Ilocos Norte.

5. Fishing gears benefiting by the use of payaw a. Line fishing a.1 Handline a.2 Pole and line a.3 Multiple hooks handline a.4 Troll line b. Netfishing b. 1 Bag net b.2 Gill net b.2.1 Drift b.2.2 Encircling b.3 Seine b.3.1 Sardine Purse Seine b.3.2 Tuna Purse Seine b.3.3 Ring Netter

6. Sources of conflict among users arising from the use of payaw A payaw is anchored and the ratio of the depth of the water to the length of the anchor line is 1:(1.3); hence, because of the slack, the raft, which is the buoyant portion, moves with the current. This apparently dislocates the payaw. Conflicts arise as to who is the rightful owner when it is found to have encroached on another established site.

7. Conflicts among users arising from the use of payaw a. There is rampant poaching of unguardedpayaw by operators of purse seines and handlines. Unscrupulous handliners go to the extent of cutting the anchor rope ofpayaw to retrieve their lines whenrhese get entangled with the anchor rope when tuna, once hooked, swerves vehemently about to extricate itself from the hook. b. Oftentimes the anchorline of apayaw is cut, not on purpose but by mechanical defect or due to wear and tear. Naturally, The'payaw then drifts with the current and may get stuck and found among those which are owned by another operator. Now, who has the right to catch the fish of the drifted payaw? c. There is much competition for the acquistition and possession of good sites along the known migratory path of tuna. d. Since there are no regulations governing the setting up of payaw, operator are free to set them as they please. What therefore should be the reasonable and legal distance between payaw units and where should the demarcation line be set to segregate the site claimed by one operator from that claimed by another operator? e. Tuna tends to migrate toward coves and inlets where food is abundant. Fishermen living along the shores of these places set up fixed trap nets inside the coves and inlets like they do in Basilan and Cotabato. These traps are locally known as birahan. Big-time operators, however, set up payaw at or near the mouths of coves so that tuna are blocked from entering or are herded away from the coves and inlets. f. Drift tuna long lines which are set along the migratory path of tuna get entangled with the payaw. The process of retrieving these causes much turmoil, resulting in rash and harsh actions by both parties. 8. Suggested approaches for effective reduction of conflicts among small fishermen and/or operators of payaw a. Formulate a Fisheries Administrative Order (FAO) to deal with the protection of sustenance fishermen from commercial and individual payaw operators and from tuna purse seine operators. b. Regulate tuna fishing in critically depleted areas and assign fishery technologists/biologists on board fishing vessels to gather data for use in long-term conservation measures. c. Determine the season when tuna are juvenile and impose regulatory measures such as a close season. d. Regulate the operation of payaw units, at specific distances, setting up a demarcation line between and among payaw operation sites and enforcing the payment of a fee for a licence to operate payaw.