Floating Solar Farms as Payaos? Piñol Wants to Know

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol on Friday said he wanted to know if the floating solar farms developed by power company, SN Aboitiz, could also be used as fish aggregating devices or payaos.

Piñol said that while the main purpose of the floating solar power farms, which SN Aboitiz Power had initially put up in Magat Dam in Ramon, Isabela, is to provide power for small communities, he also wanted to know if these can be used to increase fishermen’s catch.

He said a meeting involving the Department of Agriculture (DA), the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and SN Aboitiz Power will take place on Monday (July 8, 2019) for the solar power project to provide power to isolated fishing communities, especially those on the islands.

“Can the floating solar farms also serve as a Fish Aggregating Device or ‘Payao’ to increase fishermen’s catch?,” Piñol asked.

He said payaos are the traditional method of providing an artificial haven that fishermen use to attract small fish species that big fish prey on.

“It is in the ‘payao’ where local fishermen using handlines catch high-value fish like Tuna, Malasugue and others attracted by the small species,” Piñol said.

He said if this would also be viable as a form of payao, the DA would be saving on expenses.

Piñol said currently, the BFAR spends about PHP250,000 for each payao. It has so far deployed about 1,000 units in fishing communities.

“The Floating Solar Farms-cum-“Payao” could be very useful in island-provinces like Siquijor, Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi and other isolated fishing islands,” he said.

Piñol said he also directed Agriculture Undersecretary Eduardo Gongona, the BFAR National Executive Director, to form a technical team to determine if the floating solar farms could run ice-making equipment and cold storage facilities.

“This will provide an immediate solution to the problem of fishermen who live on remote and isolated islands, who have been asking for ice-making facilities so they could bring their catch to the market,” he said.

Piñol said he was looking at establishing the first floating solar power devices in Tawi-Tawi or Sulu “if proven viable.” (PNA)