Ubay to Set Up Floating Detachments in 2 Islets

In its effort to zealously guard its seas from illegal fishers and poachers out to ravage the reefs and its marine treasures, Ubay is putting up two floating detachments.

Ubay Mayor Constantino Reyes said the detachments would be placed in strategic locations: near Tintinan Island and in Malingin Island.

These areas have been previously identified to have the most number of illegal fishers.

Its seas have been a magnet for blast fishers which the coastal law enforcement team has been on to, according to local Coastal Resource Management Project Team members.

Ubay has the perfect reason to set up a floating detachment, an innovation from the already innovative Coastal Law Enforcement Councils then.

Sitting right in the middle of a biodiversity hotspot called the Danajon Double Barrier Reef, the geological underwater wonder has the most perfect breeding areas for fish and marine crustaceans.

Issues as to jurisdiction in the implementation of the Fisheries Code of the Philippines, with the devolution of government enforcement agencies to local governments, have hounded Bohol. Implementers see an issue with officials who rescue supporters who fish illegally, and are apprehended by the enforcement teams.

A multi-agency and inter-town composition of fishery laws enforcement teams were formed to address the issue, giving birth to the CLEC.

But with poachers also playing hide and seek with the enforcement teams, the moment the team reaches the port to replenish, the poachers are in again.

Many hope the floating detachment composed of police, Army, Coast Guard, and fish wardens including BFAR authorities and fishermen organization members could be the solution.

At the launching of the second congressional district’s 5th Community Fish Landing Project (CFLC) at the Ubay Public Market wet section, Mayor Reyes explained that the floating detachment is among the interventions which the LGU in Ubay installs to make sure there is a sustainable supply of fish in the town.

The town is host to two of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) fish stock enhancement facilities: the Ubay Brackishwater FishFarm in Son-oc and the Multi-Species Hatchery in Sinandigan.

From these facilities, commercial as well as private fish ponds get their stocks, while the government through the BFAR and LGUs implement fish dispersals of bangus, tilapia, crablets, as well as sell fingerlings for first-class fish like pompano, siganid, grouper, and prawn for commercial culture.

That same day, BFAR and the LGU released 40,000 crablets in Guintabo-an Island.

The crablets were hatched in the blue swimming crab facility in Sinandigan. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)