Five individuals were apprehended in Brooke’s Point town on Wednesday, July 6 for possessing hundreds of live and fresh Suno even during the implementation of closed season for the catching of reef-fish-for-food (RFF) in Palawan.
Caught off guard around 8:47 p.m. at Barangay Oring-oring were FBca ASNA-1 Boat Captain Julhari Hamdain and his crew members, Isral Majenji, Jeric Ambatal, Abbas Hamdain and Arin Hamin.
The said live sunos, numbering up to 207, were loaded inside the suspects’ fishing vessel and was discovered by the Provincial Law Enforcement Task Force through the joint elements of PCSD Enforcement Team, Bantay Palawan and Rescue 165.
The confiscation was third in a row since the implementation of closed season started to take effect on June 16 pursuant to the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD) Revised Admin Order No. 05, S. 2014 or the policy regulating the lucrative reef-fish-for-food industry in the province.
Criminal and/or administrative charges will be filed against the responsible persons for violation of the Republic Act 9147 or the Wildlife Act and PCSD AO5, S.2014.
Seasonal control is one of the salient provisions of PCSD Revised AO5,S.2014 which is being implemented in Palawan to address the declining catch of the three species of RFF in the province, namely: Leopard Coral Trout or Red Suno (Plectropomus leopardus), Green Grouper or Loba (Epinephelus coioides), and Tiger Grouper or Lapung-baboy (Epinephelus fuscoguttatus).
Closed season is scheduled on June 16 to August 31, and again on October 16 to December 15. Open season, on one hand, is set on January 1 to June 15, and the next one is on September 1 to Oct. 15.