Illegally caught fish confiscated

CEBU, Philippines - Fish weighing 1,620 kilos were confiscated from 27 fishermen who were caught illegally fishing in the seawaters of Bancasan, San Remigio, Cebu Monday midnight.

In a related development, the composite team of the Cebu Provincial Anti-Illegal Fishing Task Force seized 14 out of the 48 boxes of fish locally known as “tamban-tuloy” in a checkpoint at Barangay Magay, Compostela at 11:00 in the morning yesterday.

In the San Remigio operation, most of the fish caught were locally known as ‘tuloy,’ amounting to P50,000. The 27 fishermen were on board the fishing vessel F/B Felicitas YC when apprehended by the Bantay Dagat Task Force.

Those who were arrested were identified as Romel Zata, the boat captain; Samuel Almonicar, the marine diesel mechanic and 25 other crew members mostly from Cadiz City, Negros Occidental, Sta. Fe and Bantayan in Cebu and Escalante in Negros Occidental.

They were released at about 5:46 in the morning on the same day after paying a fine of P150,000. The fine was paid by a certain Vicente Yap, relative of Jester Chua who owns the fishing vessel.

Senior Police Officer 1 Joe Johneskie Ynot, San Remigio police investigator, said that a team of Bantay Dagat was conducting a sea borne patrol within their area of responsibility when they spotted the fishing vessel.

Jeffrey Santillano led the team with Nenito Sinangote, Randy Teaño, Crisanto Edaño, Elmo Cogal, Norlan Pagal, Jerry Casinillo, Norie Precillias, Nolito Olivar and others.

In Compostela, the 14 boxes of fish were unloaded from a truck with plate number GXG 339 driven by a certain Gener Muñoz whose address is Tipolo, Mandaue City and were brought to the Capitol ground.

The absence of the name of owner in the auxiliary receipt prompted the task force to declare the fish as abandoned and no one can be charged while the boxes only marked as “LL”.

Fish examiners of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources conducted the random sampling in the area and found 14 boxes with fish caught by dynamite. 

Muñoz told the task force that he just picked up the boxes of fish somewhere in Medellin town in northern Cebu. The fish was reportedly from Samar. –(FREEMAN)