CLOSE TO 500 kilos of blasted fish and a stingray were seized in Liloan town, northern Cebu last Wednesday night as part of a market denial operation by the Cebu Provincial Anti-Illegal Fishing Task Force.
The task force intercepted a blue Mitsubishi Elf truck carrying 38 tubs of fish, squid and stingray, estimated to cost P51,000.
Five men, including driver Eduardo Piveda, were apprehended but were released yesterday. The vehicle was impounded at the Capitol.
The men will be charged for violating the provincial fisheries ordinance and the amended R.A. 10654 for transporting dynamited fish, said task force coordinator Chad Estella.
“Out of the 38 boxes, six yielded positive for dynamited fish,” Estella told reporters yesterday.
The lawyer said a licensed fish examiner within the team conducted a forensic exam on the fish, which had loosened scales and broken limbs.
As a standard operating procedure, the dynamited fish were donated to charitable institutions.
The seized fish, weighing 482 kilograms, included mamsa, kubalkubal, and banak, among others.
The 32 boxes which tested negative for dynamited fish were returned to the respective owners.
Based on the truck’s registration certificate, the owners are Rosendo and Elena Caliza of Bogo City.
Driver Piveda said the fish came from Cawayan, Masbate. They were headed toward the Pasil Market in Cebu City.
Alan Poquita, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) assistant regional director, said the task force can also file an administrative case against the owner of the vehicle used to transport illegally caught fish and sharks.
The amended fisheries and aquatic resource ordinance of Cebu declares it unlawful to fish or take, possess, transport, deal in, sell or in any manner, dispose of any shark species.
The amended RA 10654, meanwhile, allows a prompt and administrative adjudication and deprive offenders of the economic benefits derived from illegal unreported and unregulated fishing.
Task force head Marcelo Go said trucks transporting illegally caught fish are hard to spot and intercept because these usually pass through the mountains in the north to avoid checkpoints.