202 nabbed for illegal fishing

SAN FERNANDO CITY, La Union — The La Union police provincial office based in Camp Diego Silang here arrested 202 individuals involved in illegal fishing in the coastal towns of La Union, particularly in areas covered by the Lingayen Gulf.

Superintendent Sterling Raymund Blanco, chief intelligence officer, reported to Senior Superintendent Samuel Diciano, La Union police director, that the illegal fishers were caught over the weekend in simultaneous anti-illegal fishing operations conducted by police personnel assigned in coastal municipalities.

Blanco said 18 operations were conducted, resulting in the arrest of the fishermen who were mostly from Pangasinan. Twelve fishing vessels, 13 bottles of homemade explosives and several illegal fishing gears were confiscated.

Police also seized 2, 874 kilos of assorted fish, mostly caught through blast fishing. The fish were distributed to various charitable institutions.

Fifty-six fishermen were caught in Bauang, La Union and 22 in Aringay town. Twenty and six, respectively, were nabbed in the towns of Sto. Tomas and Bacnotan while others were apprehended in Agoo, Bangar, Tubao and this city.

Formal charges were already filed in court against the erring poachers.

The STAR learned that the simultaneous anti-illegal fishing operations were conducted after officials of the La Union Hotels, Resorts and Restaurant Association (LUHRRA) had complained to local officials that illegal fishing along the Lingayen Gulf has become rampant and unabated.

LUHRRA officials claimed that blast fishers are destroying and polluting the swimming areas around the Gulf and the beaches in La Union. They said that fish supply in the markets have also been badly affected and traditional favorites such as tanigue, susay and durado, are slowly disappearing.