4 nabbed for illegal harvest of aquarium fish in Pangasinan

DAGUPAN CITY —  The police have arrested four people at the Bolinao town in Pangasinan province for catching hundreds of aquarium fish, an act prohibited by a Bolinao ordinance.

Maria Rosario Padilla, 33; Felipe Sagarino, 58; Leonila Coral, 49; and Ricardo Dano, 31, were nabbed on May 24, as they prepared to transport at least 300 fishes packed in transparent plastic bags in Barangay
(village) Luciente I.

A 1999 ordinance has prohibited the gathering of aquarium fishes from the town’s territorial waters, said SPO1 Arnel Caaya of the Bolinao police.

Caaya said the four suspects also violated a 2003 provincial ordinance that banned the use of compressors as breathing apparatus in fishing activities. Two compressors were among the items seized by the police,
along with two oxygen tanks, three fishing nets, and two motorboats.

Caaya said that the aquarium fishes were released back to the sea.  SFM