Fibreglass boats replace wooden vessels in Philippines

Manila: A thousand fishermen in central Philippines said goodbye to the wooden fishing vessels that their families had used for generations, using instead fibreglass fishing boats in a bid to speed recovery from a grade four storm that hit them in late 2013.

“I have built more than 20 fibreglass boats for fishing families in Tolosa, Leyte, after I learnt the technology from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) that initially helped my family,” said Bibot Advincula, 63.

He was one of the recipients of the Bancas for the Philippines and Climate-Smart Technologies project that WWF launched in 16 towns, one city, and an island in the provinces of Aklan, Cebu, Iloilo, Leyte, and Palawan in February 2014, three months after Typhpoon Haiyan killed 7.200, displaced five million and caused damage worth P500 billion (Dh38 billion) in November 2013.

But transition to the new technology wasn’t always smooth. Erma Repedrom of New Washington, Aklan, said: “At the start, he [her husband] continued repairing the holes of our wooden fishing vessel that was damaged by Typhoon Haiyan.”

The project’s other hurdle was how to help all 146,700 small-scale fishermen who lost their boats and livelihoods in Haiyan-blighted areas.

“Fishermen in villages that never received assistance from local and international aid agencies were initially taught how to build their own 15-foot fibreglass fishing vessels with cash, moulds, tools, and raw materials. Then they were trained to replicate boat moulds for future use and succeeding generations,” said Toni Munnar, WWF’s project manager in the Philippines.

“Some of the fishermen have started to build their own fibreglass fishing vessels independent of our project. They have developed locally appropriate application of the fibreglass fishing vessel technology,” she said, adding, “The project is a viable long-term [a] solution for fishing communities that are highly vulnerable to climate change impacts.”

Naval architect Ramon Binamira Jr. proudly said he designed a fibreglass boat model’s hull “three times more puncture resistant than the eight to 10 millimetre-thick hull of a wooden fishing vessel.” He added: “They are cheaper and faster to make, durable, easy to maintain, lightweight and watertight.”

A fibreglass fishing boat is equivalent to 28 board feet of wood. The making of 1,000 fibreglass boats prevented the loss of 28,000 board feet of wood, said Patrick Co, head of WWF’s technologies unit. “Our fibreglass boats have no engines — so we promote artisanal fishing and avert exploitation of fishing grounds,” Co added.

The use of wooden boats contributes to the estimated loss of 157,000 hectares (387,955 acres) of forest cover every year, environmentalists said.

Ten out of 13 fishing grounds in the Philippines are now heavily exploited, according to the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.