Arrested Vietnamese poachers pay P600K fine

TUGUEGARAO CITY –– Ten Vietnamese fishermen who were earlier apprehended for poaching have recently paid a compromise fine of P600,000 to settle their administrative case at the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR)-Cagayan Valley.

Lawyer Arsenio Bañares, BFAR-Cagayan Valley’s fishery enforcement chief, on Thursday said the foreign fishermen have earlier signed a waiver of ownership of their fishing vessels, reportedly worth millions of pesos, in favor of BFAR.

The bureau’s law enforcers and the Philippine Coast Guards on June 1 arrested the fishermen after intercepting their two fishing vessels off Dalupiri Island in the Calayan Group of Islands in Calayan, Cagayan.

Dr. Nelson Bien, acting regional director of BFAR-Cagayan Valley at that time, said the bureau’s personnel were on a patrol mission onboard DA-BFAR MCS 3010 when they chanced upon the Vietnamese vessels.

Found in the vessels were assorted fish, mostly yellowfin tuna, shark, blue marlin, and dorado, estimated to be worth more than P80,000.

Bañares said the dismissal of the administrative cases through a compromise fine is advantageous to the government.

Bañares said with the resolution of the administrative case the offenders would be released, pending clearance from other concerned agencies./lzb