Among those arrested were two operators and two captains of the fishing vessels, which police said would be charged accordingly in court.
Chief Superintendent Ricardo Padilla, Bicol police director, said his men intercepted F/V Doña Felisa and F/V Ruth while illegally fishing off Pioduran town in Albay.
Padilla said the seaborne teams headed by Inspectors Cristito Acojo and Luke Ventura arrested 27 people, including lawyer Santiago Ortega and Ruth Deunafe Dimaiwat, operators of F/V Doña Felisa and F/V Ruth, respectively. Seized from them were six baneras of illegally caught fish.
In a report to Camp Crame, meanwhile, Chief Superintendent Leopoldo Bataoil, Ilocos regional police director, identified the intercepted fishing vessels as F/V Princess Kate owned by Shirly Olasiman of Sual, Pangasinan, and F/V Princess Charisse owned by Lilia Perez of Dagupan City.
Of the 26 people arrested in the coastal town of Bauang, two of them were Francisco Llever and Lito Yasar, captains of the vessels Princess Kate and Princess Charisse, respectively.
Joint police, Navy and Bantay Dagat operatives headed by Superintendent Pedro Ubaldo, Bauang police chief, conducted the seaborne operations Thursday amid reports by concerned residents that the suspects were illegally fishing within the town’s 15-kilometer municipal water zone.
Bataoil said majority of the suspects were caught while conducting muro-ami, a fishing method wherein fishermen dive deep into the sea to drive away coral fish to waiting fine mesh nets.
Nestor Domenden, director of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, said fine nets are banned under the Fishery Code of the Philippines because they trap small fishes and fingerlings, which could result in the decline of marine species. – Non Alquitran and Myds Supnad