A Capitol employee takes a video of the boxes of fish for documentation. The blasted fish were seized in Carmen town, northern Cebu. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
A TRUCK carrying four boxes of blasted fish was intercepted by a team from the Provincial Anti-Illegal Fishing Task Force in Carmen, northern Cebu last Thursday night.
The team seized 540 kilos of assorted dynamited fish from an Isuzu Truck with plate number JEC-745 in barangay Poblacion, Carmen.
The fish worth P27,000 were to be delivered to the Pasil wet market in Cebu City, Marcelo Go, task force head, told Cebu Daily News yesterday.
Go refused to disclose the source of the fish.
He said the operation was part of the task force’s market denial efforts.
The truck’s driver, Jomar Golosino, and his companion Roel Descarten, both from Hagnaya, San Remigio were released but will be summoned later by the Capitol’s Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Adjudication Board (FARAB) for a hearing.
It will be the FARAB which will determine the charges to be filed against the two, said Go.
“They may be held liable under Republic Act (RA) 10654 or the provincial fisheries ordinance,” he said.
Under R.A. No. 10654, it is unlawful to commercially transport, among others, illegally caught or taken fish.
Upon finding administrative liability, the offender shall be meted with a fine of P50,000 to P200,000 or five times the value of fish or species, whichever is higher, and confiscation of the same.
On the other hand, a fine of P5,000 per kilo of confiscated goods may be slapped against violators under Provincial Ordinance 2012-5.
The truck will remain impounded at the Capitol compound until the case is resolved.
The confiscated fish were donated to various charitable institutions.