2 whale shark poachers charged

MASBATE CITY — Charges have been filed against two fishermen who were caught hurling dynamite at a group of whale sharks (butanding) off the coast of this city.

Mayor Socrates Tuazon said maritime policemen saw fishermen Gerry Verano and Noel Cuevas closing in on a wounded whale shark near the marine sanctuary in Barangay Bitong here last Tuesday.

When the maritime police team arrived in Sitio Sabang, they saw villagers cutting the carcass of a 34-foot long butanding which the two fishermen had earlier blasted to death.

The team also saw another whale shark being slaughtered on the shore of nearby Barangay Lipata in Baleno town.

Authorities arrested Verano and Cuevas after residents identified them as the ones who used dynamites in killing the whale sharks.

Reports said another whale shark survived the attack by heading toward the northern tip of Ticao Island, probably en route to their favorite feeding ground in Donsol, Sorsogon.

Maria Ong Ravanilla, regional director of the Department of Tourism, called on leaders of coastal communities to help protect the butanding.

Ravanilla said Fisheries Administrative Order No. 193 of 1998 bans the catching, selling, chasing, possession and transport of whale sharks and manta rays.

At least five whale sharks had been killed in the waters of Masbate, Albay and Sorsogon since the sea animals were found to be feeding on planktons in the waters of Donsol in 1997.