ILOILO – Illegal fishers have found a way to avoid arrest. They use “spotters”, according to Provincial Administrator Raul Banias.
These spotters monitor the Provincial Bantay Dagat Task Force’s movements.
Through mobile phone text messages, they warn illegal fishers that the task force has an operation, said Banias.
“Illegal fishers maintain an intelligence network like we do,” he lamented, and this makes the task force’s work difficult.
These spotters are strategically positioned in the coastal municipalities of Estancia, Carles and Concepcion in northern Iloilo, said Banias, and some even pose as fishermen.
Illegal fishing remains a problem in northern Iloilo, said Banias.
The Provincial Bantay Dagat Task Force has six boats patrolling the waters of northern Iloilo. The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) also has one doing the same.
One kind of illegal fishing method being practiced in the area is hulbot-hulbot or Danish Seine and Modified Danish Seine, according to BFAR.
Danish Seine and Modified Danish Seine are active gears consisting of a conical net with a pair of wings, the ends of which are connected to a rope embedded with buri, plastic strips, sinkers or other similar materials to serve as scaring or herding device hauled through a mechanical winch or by manpower.
These gears have been proven to destroy marine habitats.
Fisheries Administrative Order (FAO) No. 246-1 of the Department of Agriculture has banned hulbot-hulbot.
But from January 2017 to June 2018 39 hulbot-hulbot fishing boats have been apprehended in Western Visayas, data from BFAR showed.
Most of these boats were caught in the Visayan Sea off the coasts of northern Iloilo, Roxas City in Capiz and Negros Occidental, said BFAR assistant regional director Carlito Delfin.
The boat captains and crew of these boats were charged with violating Republic Act 10654 (The Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998)./PN
