ANOTHER case of dynamite explosion killed a fisherman and seriously injured his companion yesterday morning.
This is the fourth tragedy involving an explosive used in illegal fishing in Lapu-Lapu City since Dec. 5 last year.
Acting City Police Director Mariano Natuel admitted that they are helpless against illegal fishing because, aside from the lack of a seacraft, fishermen can easily obtain supply of wicks and black powder from firecracker factories in Barangay Babag.
The explosion tore the boat and killed instantly Monico Abano, Jr., 34. His companion, Reynaldo Siton, 26, suffered third degree burns in the body and knees and is currently treated at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC).
They were 100 meters from the shore of Caubian islet, whose water is supposedly closely watched by fish wardens being the baseline of Asia’s only Danajon Double Barrier Reef.
It severed Abano’s right hand and burned his face and body. The dynamite went off when Abano was about to toss it into the water.
Barangay Captain Romeo Matbagon said Monico Sr., Abano’s father, died also in dynamite fishing sometime in 1980’s.
“Kini maoy nakalisod ining bisyoha kay mapasa man gud gikan sa amahan ngadto sa anak. Bisan pa ug naa nay mamatay dili gihapon makabiya tungod sab sa kagutom (This is what’s difficult about it, the father passing the vice to the son. Despite the deaths, they can’t stop because of hunger),” he said.
The head of the City Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Management Council (CFARMC) had admitted that unless government offers marginal fishermen an alternative means of livelihood, illegal fishing will continue.
Abano is the latest and fourth fatality of dynamite fishing. Last Sept. 16 Apolonio Andales was pinned to death when a huge part of a coral shelf broke off after a loud sound of dynamite explosion.
He was fishing in chest-deep water off Barangay Suba-Basbas when the accident happened. One of his companions Iko Aton suffered only minor bruises.
The city has 80 fish wardens distributed in different coastal barangays to help monitor its municipal waters.
But in yesterday’s tragedy, Natuel merely expressed hope that CFARMC will do its best to do their mandate.
Program to protect the Danajon Bank beneath the waters off Caubian islet was joined by Chevron Philippines, a giant oil firm, donating P3 million to develop it into a Park Management Center with a guard house on its center. (AIV)
