SAN FABIAN - A Research project of the National Fisheries Research Development Institute (NFRDI) called modified fyke net could help boost fish catch and discourage illegal fishing.

The project is set for experimental testing in the coastal barangay of Rabon here in a few weeks.

Marites Shiuco, aquaculturist of NFRDI and in charge of the
project, said the fyke net technology will be the first of its kind in the country although its concept is like that of the bigger” lambaklad” already in use in some parts of the county.

The fyke nets were designed by NFRDI team of technicians and being assembled in the shoreline of barangay Rabon with the help of members of the Rabon Fisheries Association which will eventually own the project.

Shuico said this is a passive type of fishing gear used in catching migratory fishes, like “talakitok” and other bigger fishes and the pelagic fishes like “hasa-hasa”.

“This is the high bred mixes of fishing gears and traps, like seine trawl which ordinarily is cylindrical. But this is rectangular in shape with four corners,” Shiuco described the fishing project.

It is being installed in barangay Rabon, San Fabian because the Lingayen Gulf is a highly pressured area for fishing, in the hope of replacing the bad fishing practices of local fishermen.

Dr. Westly Rosario, NFRDI executive director, said San Fabian was chosen as site for the launching of this type of fishing gear because San Fabian is known throughout the country as haven of illegal fishers.

“It is about time that we teach local fishermen the proper methods of fishing,” Rosario said. He disclosed that a bathemetric test conducted by NFRDI showed that the deepest portion of the Lingayen Gulf is in San Fabian.

Provided with a steel frame that gives fishes easy entrance but which makes it difficult for them to exit, the fishing gear has a mechanism to block the fish from going out, said Shiuco who is working on the project with fellow aquaculturist Marco Perez.

To be installed not more than one kilometer from the sore at a depth of from 10 to 15 meters, the fyke net is a fish trap in a smaller scale that “lambaklad”, the most commonlarge-scale trap in the Philippines.

One unit of “lambaklad” costs from P2 million to P2.5 million, in contrast with the fyke net, one unit of which costs from P150,000 to P200,000.

The gear is about 100 meters long and there will be additional framing to be conducted while the same was already transported one kilometer away from the shore. The same will be anchored underneath by concrete anchors.

Shiuco said that while the project is still on its research stage, NFRDI expects a harvest of at least 25 kilograms of assorted fish a day. Harvesting, he said, could be done twice a day, depending on the volume of fishes that are being trapped.

Very environmental-friendly, fyke nets is a large-mesh net using the approved legal mesh sizes, the largest around 15 centimeters and the lowest, found in its pocket, is around three centimeters.

The fyke nets will be operated by the Rabon Fishermen’s
Association, to which 70 percent of the marketed catch will go, another 20 percent for maintenance and 10 percent to the local government.

While the research on the fyke nets is still going on, we are here to supervise the RFA. Then after two years of collaboration, these gears will be turned over to the association,” Shiuco said.

“There are two units of fyke nets being assembled in barangay Rabon. But after two months that these two are already in operation, two more units will be added,” Shiuco said.

The first two units will catch bottom-dwelling fishes and the other two the pelagic or ocean-dwelling fishes.