A TASK force under the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (Penro) arrested four fishermen for allegedly fishing in prohibited waters off Bantayan Island, northern Cebu yesterday.
Two commercial fishing vessels were caught in two separate operations by the eight-man task force.
In the first arrest, two fishermen on board MV Seanne were caught fishing in Madridejos town at 6 a.m. according to Loy Madrigal, task force chief and head of the Capitol’s Civil Security Unit (CSU).
After an hour, the task force accompanied by officials of Bantay Dagat of the town took into custody the MV Mark Hope and its two crew members in the same area.
Madrigal said more than 180 buckets of fish were recovered from the two vessels that contained different fish species. The vessels are reportedly owned by a resident of Cadiz City in Negros Occidental.
Each bucket was estimated to hold around 35 to 40 kilos of fish worth more than P500,000, he said.
According to Madrigal, the confiscated buckets of fish were turned over to district and provincial hospitals in the town of San Remigio and Bogo City for the patients’ consumption.
Two weeks ago, the task force also gave 72 buckets of fish and other marine species to the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) after an arrest was made in the same island.
A provincial ordinance prohibits the catching of fish within 15 kilometers from a town or city’s shores.
He said the owners of the two fishing vessels will face a penalty of P5,000 per kilo of confiscated fish. The vessel’s owner or representatives have yet to pay the fines.
Madrigal said failure to pay the fine will result in the impounding of the vessels or filing of a criminal case depending on the recommendations of the Provincial Legal Office./Correspondent Peter L. Romanillos