VIGAN CITY, Ilocos Sur – Seventeen Vietnamese fishermen caught in the West Philippine Sea last week, have been charged with illegal poaching.
Superintendent Baltazar Rivera, regional director of the Maritime police unit of Region 1, formally lodged the complaint at the prosecutor’s office.
The Vietnamese were caught using superlights which are outlawed.
Rivera said 16 Vietnamese are now under the custody of the local office of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) in Ilocos Sur while a Vietnamese minor is in the custody of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) of Region 1.
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) Region 1 has already distributed the seized 3,530 kilograms of tuna to different public hospitals and charitable institutions in 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 fish to the public hospitals in the province on Tuesday. (Freddie G. Lazaro)