Bataan operatives nab fishing vessel using prohibited gear

BALANGA CITY, Bataan – A motorized fishing boat reportedly owned by a former Balanga City councilor was intercepted Friday while reportedly in the act of catching fish with the use of fine mesh net and other prohibited gear at the seawaters of Barangay Camachile, Orion town, this province.

Senior Superintendent Manuel Gaerlan, Bataan police director, told The STAR that a joint team of the Bataan Provincial Anti-Illegal Task Force and 304th Provincial Police Mobile Group was conducting a seaborne patrol when they chanced upon a commercial boat with marking “SONREENA” piloted by Virgilio de Leon, 57, of the coastal village of Tortugas, Balanga City with nine crewmembers.

Gaerlan said the fishing vessel was allegedly owned by former Balanga City councilor Romulo Triguero, of Barangay Tortugas, this City, who ran and lost in the vice mayoralty race in the last local election .

Confiscated in their possession were seven plastic buckets of halubaybay marine species used in making dried fish (tuyo), active gear, and fine mesh nets. The seized fish were brought to the Provincial Jail in this City.

Gaerlan said the provincial government has intensified its campaign against illegal fishing when marginal fishers complained about the unabated intrusions of big-time commercial trawls from Navotas, Malabon, Bulacan and Cavite in the rich fishing grounds of Bataan.

A criminal complaint for violations of Section 89 for using of fine mesh nets and Section 90 for employing  active gear under  RA No. 8550 of the Fishery Code  was filed against the boat captain while a separate complaint was filed before the Provincial Prosecutors’ Office  against the fishing vessel owner.