ILLICIT ACTIVITY Personnel from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) in Quezon province board a commercial fishing boat cited for illegal fishing in Lamon Bay off Calauag town in this photo taken on April 26, 2022. —PHOTO COURTESY OF BFAR-QUEZON
LUCENA CITY — Police and Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) officials in Quezon have assured local fisherfolk that they would intensify their patrol of the province’s waters to stop the activities of commercial fishers who have been reported to be employing armed men in their illegal operations.
Quezon provincial police director Col. Ledon Monte admitted that the maritime police lacked faster vessels that could keep up with commercial fishing boats, but said “we already have plans in place on how to arrest them (illegal fishers).”
READ: Armed illegal fishers operate in Quezon waters, say groups
Monte, in an interview on Wednesday, confirmed reports by fishermen and local environmentalists about the escalating tension in the waters off Quezon caused by the operations of commercial fishing boats protected by armed crew.
In a separate interview, Councilor Andrea Olase of the island town of Perez said a policeman was kicked by an armed man aboard a commercial fishing vessel in Lamon Bay when the law enforcer tried to climb aboard a “buli-buli” (modified Danish seine) during a patrol operation in the waters off Alabat island in November last year.
“The service firearm of the policeman was lost when he fell in the water,” Olase said, noting that the incident is still being investigated by authorities.
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The government has banned buli-buli fishing in 2013 as it destroys corals, seagrass and traps and eventually kills small fish.
Allan Castillo, director of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) in Quezon, said one of their enforcers was threatened with a bolo by a crew member of a commercial fishing boat operator, also in Lamon Bay.
“The enforcer was forced to jump into the water [to ensure] his safety,” Castillo said.
On Monday, Olase led a group of fishermen in a meeting with the members of the provincial board where they reiterated their complaints against commercial fishers and their destructive operations.
She said the board had scheduled a public consultation to discuss the issue.
Tayabas Bay, too
Jay Lim, project officer of Tanggol Kalikasan, reported that abuses and incidents of harassment committed by illegal fishers were not only confined to Lamon Bay but were also happening in Tayabas Bay.
A group of “Bantay Dagat” (fish wardens) in Sariaya town, he said, is facing a case of frustrated homicide filed by illegal fishers whom they apprehended late last year.
“The case was a form of harassment to get back at the Bantay Dagat who were only doing their job to protect the bay from illegal fishers like their accusers,” Lim told the Inquirer.
He urged the provincial government to revive the Task Force Matatag, a multisectoral group formed to combat illegal fishing in Lamon Bay, Tayabas Bay and Ragay Gulf.
“It was effective back then, from 2001 to 2007. Illegal and destructive fishing were almost wiped out,” Lim recalled.
Thirty-four of Quezon’s 42 towns are coastal—17 along Lamon Bay in the Pacific Ocean, 12 off Tayabas Bay facing the West Philippine Sea and five along the Ragay Gulf in the Bicol peninsula.
On Monday, Lim appealed to authorities to immediately act on threats from commercial fishers protected by armed crew in Lamon Bay.
According to BFAR’s Castillo, illegal fishing activities in Lamon Bay are “very rampant” and these operations are “organized and well-funded.”