BOHOL’s Coastal Law Enforcement Council (CLEC) cluster 8 held its first council meeting on March 28, to discuss enhancing coastal law enforcement against illegal marine activities with capability trainings and procuring the necessary equipment for law enforcers.
The meeting, held at the Dauis Municipal Hall, was attended by members from five municipalities: Baclayon, Panglao, Alburquerque, and Dauis.
CLEC-8 aims to capacitate its members with skills in protecting, managing, and conserving coastal resources to reduce illegal fishing activities in the five coastal municipalities.
As the cluster’s chairman, Dauis Mayor Roman Bullen said that they want to tackle the problem of mismanagement, often caused by lack of expertise and skills, by equipping the Municipal Coastal Law Enforcement Teams with a better understanding of their responsibilities and the knowledge and skills they need to do for their jobs.
“We are dedicated to safeguarding our marine environment. We want to stop illegal activities destroying our seas,” Bullen said.
In their project proposal, CLEC-8 mentioned illegal fishing, garbage dumping, constructing illegal infrastructures near the sea, and waste dumping as the problems they want to solve. The cluster is also committed to helping the local hog industry in its fight to prevent African Swine Fever from entering the province. Governor Aris Aumentado gave financial assistance of 300 thousand pesos for each CLEC cluster, with the 8th cluster using it to fund trainings and seminars for their members. Aside from capacity training, CLEC-8 also want to equip seaborne patrollers with more equipment like speedboats for better regular monitoring of illegal fishers. (PIMO/GMC)
