CEBU, Philippines - At least 126,000 worth of ‘blasted’ fish believed to be from Medellin town were seized by the Cebu Provincial Anti-Illegal Fishing Task Force yesterday as it was being transported to Cebu City.
The task force was conducting a checkpoint operation in Carmen town when it flagged down past midnight a truck bearing a temporary plate number TMP 431 manned by five persons, including a woman.
Mar Go, CPAIFTF head, said his team checked a total of 28 containers of assorted fish, but nine of which contained fish found to be positive to have been caught through dynamite fishing.
This was confirmed by the Capitol fish examiner Rodelio Codilla, who was with the team during the operation.
The fish reportedly came from Barangay Mahawak, Medellin, where the owner of truck resides. The Freeman is withholding the name of the truck owner pending the submission of his statement to officials.
The truck was en route to Pasil in Cebu City.
Go said the seized containers had fish weighing 630 kilos and all were turned over to charitable institutions in Cebu City for consumption, while the ones which were not caught using dynamite were delivered to the owners “as usual practice.”
He added that the persons on board the truck were allowed to go home after being invited for questioning.
As of press time, the CPAIFTF personnel are still working on the report to be submitted to the Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Adjudication Board.
The fisheries law prohibits shipping, commercially transporting, offering for sale, selling, importing, exporting, or having custody, control, or possession of illegally caught fish.
It also punishes violators with an administrative fine of P50,000 to P200,000 or five times the value of fish or species, whichever is higher. If convicted, violators may also suffer the penalty of imprisonment from six months to two years, and fine of eight times the value of the species or from P100, 000 to P500,000, whichever is higher , and confiscation of the fish or fishery products and suspension or revocation of registration or license.
Last month, the anti-illegal fishing team also confiscated 80 kilos of ‘blasted’ fish and five flat sharks in Liloan town. — (FREEMAN)