BY FELIPE CELINO
PANAY, Capiz — Mayor Dante Bermejo denied the reported rampant illegal fishing in the coastal barangays of this town.
He shrugged off reports that coral reefs here have been destroyed due to illegal trawling and dynamite fishing.
Bermejo said he will welcome the Sangguniang Panlalawigan should it push through with an investigation on the matter.
The mayor said that he has not received any complaint on illegal fishing from officials of coastal barangays, and that there were no coral reefs here.
“As far I know, coral reefs exist in Olotayan Island in Roxas City,” he said.
The Philippine Coast Guard has intensified operations against illegal fishing in the coastal waters of this town in view of Provincial Board member Jonathan Besa’s revelation that illegal fishing had been rampant here.
Bottom trawling and dynamite fishing were now a common way of harvesting fish in Panay, leading to the destruction of millions of corals and sponges, which would take centuries to replace, he said in a privileged speech.
These activities “[destroy] the spawning ground of fishes and [decimate] the habitat of the plethora of other marine life that used to be bountiful in our coasts,” Besa claimed, based on complaints of a landowner and the officials of barangays Lat-asan and Butacal.
Besa is also planning to form a Provincial Bantay Dagat, which will patrol coastal areas and run after illegal fishers.
Some Bantay Dagat personnel from Panay are reportedly conniving with illegal fishers, resulting to the unabated illegal fishing activities in the town, the SP member said, citing “information” reaching him.
He urged all Capiceños to stand against the destruction of the province’s rich natural marine resources.
