Mark Alob, a medium-scale commercial fisher in Bantayan town with more than 50 commercial fishing operators had a meeting with Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia. They discussed with the governor the Capitol’s intensified campaign against illegal fishing. Commercial fishers from Daanbantayan town, the town with the biggest municipal waters, were unable to join the meeting.
According to Alob they fished within the law. He said their method of fishing is limited to manual detection of fishes using the moonlight. Garcia warned the commercial operators to follow the law and stay out of municipal waters of Cebu province lest they be prosecuted.
The fishers asked Garcia for a moratorium on penalties imposed by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources for failure to renew their license. The group also called for changes in the determination of commercial fishing aside from the tonnage of the boat they are using.
