‘Responsible’ fishermen get gov’t help

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By Alex A. Lumaque

ROXAS CITY, Capiz – Some 22 fishermen in Barangays Dayhagan, Balogo and San Antonio in Pilar town received assistance from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) during a distribution program, March 1, in Balogo, Pilar.

BFAR Capiz Provincial Office Officer-In-Charge Edwin Candelario Javier led the distribution of assistance composed of eight units of diesel engine, 10 complete sets of fishnet and four sets of a rudder and shaft.

“Beneficiaries are those who were true to their commitment to abandon illegal fishing activities,” said Capiz Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (CaPENRO) consultant Glenn Beup.

In January, the BFAR and Capiz provincial government also provided paint to identified fishermen who heeded the call to support the government’s campaign against marine and coastal waters poachers to further maintain and beautify their motor boats.

“We still have a lot to give for those who have become responsible fishermen,” Beup stressed, adding that the province’s seaborne patrollers who composed the Provincial Bantay Dagat (PBD) will eventually get into those who continue with their illegal fishing activities.

The PBD enforcers will soon have a speed boat as the provincial government strengthens their capabilities against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUUF) activities in the province’s territorial waters.

The PBD enforcers are also conducting a continuing house to house campaign in the fishing villages of Pilar as a diplomatic approach to finally end illegal fishing activities along and within Pilar’s municipal waters. (PIA)