Fishermen on poaching charges
Source: Agencies |
December 6, 2011, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
SIX Chinese fishermen were charged with poaching endangered sea turtles when they appeared before a court in the Philippines yesterday.
Philippine authorities found a batch of giant green turtles after intercepting their speedboat in waters off the western province of Palawan last Friday, said a military spokesman.
Nine of the turtles were dead, but three were released alive into the waters after being tagged, said Glenda Cadigal, a wildlife specialist at the Palawan Council.
The sea turtles, also known as Chelonia mydas, are often caught for food and for use in traditional medicine.
They can grow as long as 150 centimeters and weigh as much as 130 kilograms. They are endangered because of overharvesting of both eggs and adults.
Yesterday, authorities filed criminal charges under the Philippines' Wildlife Act and Fisheries Code at the Palawan Regional Trial Court in the capital Puerto Princessa, said Adelina Villena, chief lawyer for the government's Palawan Council for Sustainable Development.
If found guilty on all charges, the fishermen would face up to 24 years in prison. They were not asked to enter a plea yesterday and a date for their arraignment was not set, Villena said.
In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said China was "paying attention to the incident" and asked the Philippines to ensure the safety and legal rights of the fishermen.
"The Chinese Embassy in the Philippines has sent staff to visit the detained fishermen," Hong said.
Last year, six Chinese fishermen, also on a speedboat, were arrested near the same area with more than 50 turtles, many of them already butchered and one bearing a monitoring tag of the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute, said Cadrigal.
"These kind of practices endanger the lives of other creatures in the sea because marine turtles have their function in the balance of the ecosystem," Cadrigal said.
The turtles feed on sea grass, which keeps the blades short and promotes their growth across the sea bed, and also provide beaches with nutrients, partly because of the eggs they lay that remain unhatched.
Philippine authorities found a batch of giant green turtles after intercepting their speedboat in waters off the western province of Palawan last Friday, said a military spokesman.
Nine of the turtles were dead, but three were released alive into the waters after being tagged, said Glenda Cadigal, a wildlife specialist at the Palawan Council.
The sea turtles, also known as Chelonia mydas, are often caught for food and for use in traditional medicine.
They can grow as long as 150 centimeters and weigh as much as 130 kilograms. They are endangered because of overharvesting of both eggs and adults.
Yesterday, authorities filed criminal charges under the Philippines' Wildlife Act and Fisheries Code at the Palawan Regional Trial Court in the capital Puerto Princessa, said Adelina Villena, chief lawyer for the government's Palawan Council for Sustainable Development.
If found guilty on all charges, the fishermen would face up to 24 years in prison. They were not asked to enter a plea yesterday and a date for their arraignment was not set, Villena said.
In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said China was "paying attention to the incident" and asked the Philippines to ensure the safety and legal rights of the fishermen.
"The Chinese Embassy in the Philippines has sent staff to visit the detained fishermen," Hong said.
Last year, six Chinese fishermen, also on a speedboat, were arrested near the same area with more than 50 turtles, many of them already butchered and one bearing a monitoring tag of the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute, said Cadrigal.
"These kind of practices endanger the lives of other creatures in the sea because marine turtles have their function in the balance of the ecosystem," Cadrigal said.
The turtles feed on sea grass, which keeps the blades short and promotes their growth across the sea bed, and also provide beaches with nutrients, partly because of the eggs they lay that remain unhatched.
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