Parang mayor prosecutes four for dynamite fishing at Moro Gulf

MAGUINDANAO --- A mayor is prosecuting four Iranun fishermen caught using dynamites in a protected fishing site at the Moro Gulf.Mayor Ibrahim Ibay said Monday the four men, relatives Rashid, Milham, Mohajier and Totok, all surnamed Kusain, also yielded components for dynamites when they were arrested last week while setting off an explosive to kill fishes in coral reefs in territorial waters of the municipality of Parang.Ibay, citing police reports, said all four men are residents of Kalanganan area in nearby Cotabato City.Ibay said the protected marine sites in Parang are open to all, but off limits to poachers using finely meshed nets, dynamites and cyanide to catch fish. I am confident we have an airtight case against these four men, Ibay said.Parang is a seaside town in the first district of Maguindanao where many Moro Iranun and Christian residents rely mainly on fishing as source of income.Ibay, now in his third and last term as mayor of Parang, said responding volunteers from the local Bantay Dagat group and the police nabbed the Kusains after using six powerful dynamites in the sea three miles off the municipal shores.He said he has charged the arrested fishermen with violation of the Philippine Fisheries Law before the office Maguindanao Prosecutor Rohaira Lao.Chief Supt. Graciano Mijares, director of the Police Regional Office-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said Monday he was elated with Ibay’s move. The PRO-ARMM alone cannot protect the seas in the autonomous region from illegal poachers. We need the support of LGUs, Mijares said.