In Dagupan, fishermen told to shun dirty fuel

DAGUPAN CITY—The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) has been encouraging fish farmers to use renewable energy for their farms’ needs to reduce their dependence on traditional energy sources, a BFAR official said here on Wednesday.

Benjamin Tobias, BFAR assistant director, said that four years ago, BFAR scientists tapped the wind to generate energy for water pumps and many fishermen had adopted it since.

“So the experiment on alternative energy sources is not something new. But for solar energy, this is the first one,” Tobias said, referring to the solar-powered aerators for “bangus” (milkfish) ponds and cages that are being tested here.

The two-year test was funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency, said Westly Rosario, chief of the National Integrated Fisheries Technology Development Center here.

In Mindanao, Tobias said, fishermen now used sails to go to the fishing ground. They fired their engines only on their way back to the shore, he said.

He said even the soon-to-be-built BFAR building here was solar panel-ready. “We want the building to be operating off the grid some times of the year, like during the typhoon months. We are not in favor of operating a generator,” he said.

“We are seriously looking at this. We are planning it on the basis of what we think it should be in the future. In the future, we should be more independent from traditional power sources, like diesel, bunker fuel and coal,” he said.

Tobias said the solar panels being tested, once proven to be economically feasible, had a payback period of three to seven years, depending on the system and use. Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon