ALAMINOS CITY – Illegal fishing seemed to have raised its ugly head again with 21 persons involved in the trade caught by the city police, public order and safety office and bantay dagat members in the past days.
            The police have filed cases of violation of  anti-illegal fishing laws  against the illegal fishermen, according to Supt. Rogelio Danoli, city chief of police.
            Mayor Hernani Braganza said the suspects are not from the city but from neighbor towns Anda and Sual.
            He said 14 of the suspects were from Anda and were operating a baby trawl using fine-mesh nets at the waters off Telbang and Victoria villages when caught by patrolling police and  Bantay Dagat last June 9.

           Danoli said a total of 345 kilos of assorted fish worth P17,000 was confiscated from the illegal fishers, and which were donated to charitable institutions.
            Three other fishermen were caught using push nets or kayakas in local dialect which also use fine mesh nets. They were fishing in a seagrass protected area, also violating the city’s fishery ordinance.
            Braganza said the four suspects were caught selling illegally-caught fish in the city market, allegedly brought from Navotas, Bulacan.
            “We are denying market to illegally-caught fish,” Braganza said.
            On Tuesday and Wednesday, the fishery personnel of the city dismantled fish traps along the navigational lane of the city and Anda.
            Braganza said the fish traps’ owners, who have been operating without business permits, and are endangering persons navigating the area.
            The fish traps, locally known as “pababing” also contribute to siltation in the area as they hinder water flow, he added.
            The fish traps’ owners earlier complained that thieves usually beat them to the traps’ catch, and that these are empty when they come to harvest the fish.