Payao (English Subtitles)

Payao is an old fishing technology widely used in the Philippines that made its way to the Colombian Pacific beach town of Coqui around 10 years ago.
Fishing aggregating devices have a long history in South-East Asia and extensive research exists around the political ecologies they create.
However, current investigations regarding their presence in the eastern tropical Pacific marine corridor suggests a research priority in relation to their potential effect on biological connectivity between Ecuador, Colombia, Panama and Costa Rica.
Payao is a technology embraced by Los Tiburones as a medium to host migrating sardines, catch larger fish that follow, and strengthen their efforts for mangrove regeneration.
The specific case of Coqui´s Payao invites architecture to think of underwater design as ocean stewardship and community-space-making and presents a case for situated architecture practice and body pedagogies, or forms of teaching-learning from the knowledge of the body.
Close ties between the Payao and the mangrove ecosystem have been crafted by some of the members of the Tiburones de Coqui. In addition to a sustained mangrove reforestation process, the Payao receives one tree a year in order to maintain its lushness as a marine garden.
This cyclical relationship of care presents fishermen with the question of changing the existing Payao strategy to one where mangrove trees are replaced by artificial structures.
Dialogues around the use of driftwood, iron reebars or alternate materials open new imaginations in regard to the space created by this technology and how it can benefit fish with a temporary home.
Where can architecture contribute to the scientific and community based call for a turn from fishing aggregating devices to fish-enhancing devices?
What materials and geometries better serve the living habits of fish?
Where can people meet in the ocean?
How embodied knowledge of traditional fishermen informs the architectural design process?
What does it mean to design to the beats of migration, currents and tides?