ILOILO – The local government unit (LGU) of Carles is appealing for government’s assistance in stopping illegal fishing.
Operational fund to arrest illegal fishing is not enough, said Mayor Siegfredo Betita.
“We need national and provincial help. (We) could not totally stop (iilegal fishing). We can probably just minimize them. Our Bantay Dagat is not big or fully armed. Our resources are not enough because the IRA (Internal Allotment Revenue) was based on the land area, not in the sea area,” Betita said.
The municipal waters of Carles are about one-fourth of the Visayan Sea.
It has since been a problem of Carles, he added, and they tried several measures such as deputizing barangay chairmen and councilors for Bantay Dagat, but these weren’t enough.
Their patrol boats were smaller compared to the ones illegally traversing their municipal waters, Betita explained.
“Ang mga fishermen ‘na ‘ya dalagku na ang boats nila and may allegation that they are armed,” he said.
The local government also reactivated its Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Management Council for 24/7 operation, and allocated P1 million for logistics support, according to Betita.
However, he said, “we could not stay there if the weather is very bad… We are also looking for the safety of our Bantay Dagat.”
The mayor also reported to Iloilo’s Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. that most fishers are coming from Bantayan in Cebu, Roxas City and Masbate City.
Earlier, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) warned Carles, alongside 19 other LGUs, for Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing (IUUF).
Secretary Eduardo Año explained that these LGUs had the highest number of encroachments or violation in the use of superlight and other artificial light sources (to attract fishes during nighttime) the use of which is prohibited under Section 98 of the Republic Act No. 8550, as amended by Republic Act No. 10654, or the Philippines Fisheries Code of 1998.
Año said the LGUs were informed of the total number of the IUUF committed in their areas using satellite technology.Based on the data, Carles ranked 10th with 762 total detections./PN
