Illegal fishing charges filed vs 17 Viet fishermen

By Freddie G. Lazaro

VIGAN CITY, Ilocos Sur – The police filed poaching charges poaching against 17 Vietnamese fishermen  arrested at the West Philippine Sea last week.

Superintendent Baltazar Rivera, regional director of the Maritime police unit of the Ilocos region, formally lodged the complaint in the presence of the arrested fishermen.

It was reported that the three Vietnamese vessels equipped with ‘superlights” were illegally fishing in Philippine waters.

Rivera said the 16 arrested Vietnamese fishermen are now under the custody of the local office of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) in Ilocos Sur while one minor  is under the custody of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) Region 1 had already distributed the 3,530 kilograms of tuna seized from the three captured Vietnamese fishing vessels to different public hospitals and charitable institutions in the provinces of Ilocos Sur, La Union and Pangasinan.

Ilocos Sur’s Fishery Regulatory Officer Benny Saraos told Wednesday that BFAR had delivered 1,000 kilograms of tuna to the public hospitals in the province on Tuesday.

The 17 Vietnamese fishermen on board in the three Vietnamese fishing vessels were arrested on Thursday by the operatives of the Philippine Navy while fishing 21 nautical miles west of Dile Point, Vigan City, Ilocos Sur.

The arrested fishermen were brought to Port Salomague in Cabugao, Ilocos Sur.