DENR told to teach fisherfolk why sharks need protection

The Cebu Provincial Board (PB) called on the regional Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR-7) to educate fisherfolk communities to follow local laws that protect endangered and vulnerable shark species.

“Some fishermen still practice irresponsible fishing of sharks through catching juvenile sharks unfit for catching,” Provincial Board member Arleigh Sitoy said.

He cited a 2012 provincial ordinance that bans the capture and sale of sharks.

Sitoy’s resolution was approved in unanimous motion during the PB’s regular session last Monday, which came shortly after the province’s anti-illegal fishing task force  seized a truck containing 470 kilos of thresher shark meat last Wednesday.

The driver of the Isuzu Elf Truck registered to Lapu-Lapu City-based seafood processor, Tirso’s Fish Food Product, said the meat of 14 thresher sharks was loaded in Siaton town, Negros Oriental.

Last week, a concerned citizen also posted online a video which showed vendors selling juvenile sharks at the wet market of Daanbantayan town in northern Cebu.

In an earlier interview, Daanbantayan Vice Mayor Gilbert Arrabis Jr. said a number of residents from the town who are members of small fisherfolk associations said they were unaware that the catching of thresher sharks is illegal.

Unaware
A copy of Sitoy’s resolution will be sent to DENR-7 Regional Director Isabelo Montejo.

Provincial Ordinance No, 2012-05 or the Provincial Fisheries and Aquatic Ordinance of Cebu mandates the special protection of vulnerable species such as thresher sharks and bans the “hunting, catching, possession, transportation, sale, buying, distribution, wounding or killing” the creature.

Imprisonment of not more than one year or a fine of not more than P5,000 or both await violators.

The PB also sought to amend the ordinance to include hammerhead sharks, of which three species were declared as endangered by international conservation groups.

Sitoy also asked DENR-7 to provide “clear graphic images of the species of sharks to prevent confusion among fisherfolk.”

“Some fishermen are confused and unaware that they are already violating pertinent laws due to lack of information for some cannot identify whether the shark is protected or not,” he said.