PUERTO PRINCESA CITY – A Philippine Navy patrol seized two Malaysian-registered fishing vessels with Vietnamese crewmen off Mangsee Island in Balabac, Palawan on Saturday, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) said.
The boats were reportedly carrying over 50 assorted dead species of sharks and rays.
BFAR’s Palawan field office on Tuesday said in the initial report that the foreign fishing fleet manned by 20 Vietnamese nationals was intercepted on Saturday by the Philippine Navy’s Patrol Craft 375 some 32 nautical miles off Mangsee Island in the eastern side of Palawan.
Mario Basaya, BFAR field officer, said their inventory team has counted more than 20 different species of manta rays, 16 black tip reef sharks, and 20 white tip reed sharks in the vessels’ holding cargo.
BFAR identified the boat captain as Vo Qouc Phong, 42. The crew members were fishermen from a village near Ho Chi Min City.
BFAR and the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD) were readying charges of illegal entry and illegal fishing against the Vietnamese nationals. /ee