Fisheries Department and Others Raid Lighthouse Reef for Violators

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The Fisheries Department is tightening up on persons who violate fisheries regulations. A group of fishermen from Ranchito, Copper Bank and San Joaquin villages up north were taken to court this morning for possession of undersized conch found in their possession. Their arraignment lasted two hours and they all took a guilty plea before Magistrate Norman Rodriguez. They were busted in an operation conducted by the Fisheries Department at Lighthouse Reef which yielded one thousand one hundred and sixty-two undersized conch found in separate vessels. The group includes Eder Patt, Nagiel Baptist, Fidel Roberto Chulin, Hipolito Goroscia, Melvin Marquez, Roberto De La Cruz, Alvaro De la Cruz and Jose Monzon. The fines were steep and Magistrate Rodriguez did not hesitate to order the fishermen to make some form of payment towards their bill before leaving the court. Patt was fined the highest amount; a total of four thousand five hundred and forty dollars for two hundred and twenty-seven conch. The bust was as a result of a joint operation between the Belize Fisheries Department, the Belize Audubon Society and the Eastern Division North Strike Team on Lighthouse Reef. The three-day operation included conducting checks of all fishing boats on the atoll. Fisheries Officer Hampton Gamboa explains.