Earlier in the news we told you about today's opening of the lobster season. But two fishers couldn't wait one more day for the season to open and were caught with 189 lobster tails yesterday. The bust was made by TASA in collaboration with the Coast Guard during one of their regular patrols near a fishing camp in the Turneffe Atoll Marine Reserve.
That's when they discovered the Belize City skiff named "Mac Alex Di First" with the illegal lobster tails onboard.
Today we spoke with the executive director for TASA who gave us more details about the bust.
Valdemar Andrade - Executive Director, TASA
"Yesterday encountered near to crawl caye on their regular patrols, especially right now we have a certain level of patrols out, we do levels of patrols a couple weeks before and couple weeks after the opening of the season. On the 30th our fishers encountered a Belize City skiff with 189 lobster tails, 34 of them were in soft shells and so that is basically when the lobster is molten into its next stage, so they are very vulnerable but it's against the law to take them in that stage. In this case we seized all their vessels and equipment because they are operating in out of season and so that equipment and vessel, we turn it over to the government until the case is heard and finished and the judge determines whether we give it back to them. The men are brought in, and they have their process, we co-manage along with the fisheries department and it is their prosecutor that helps us to prepare the case, our guys prepare the case files, they check it and then they do the prosecution in court. So, they are turned over to the police until, it all depends on what is being done in this case, whether they are detained or not and then once the judge had made their ruling then they pay the fine or arrest."
Reporter
"What happens to the lobsters that they caught?"
Valdemar Andrade
"So normally, that lobster we prepare as evidence, so we have a full processing as evidence, that is kept until the court case as well. After that it is turned over to the fisheries department and they normally give it to schools, or they give to like Mercy Clinic or other agencies that are able to feed people less fortunate."
And Andrade emphasized the importance of waiting until the season opens before trapping lobster – even if it's less than 24 hours away.
Valdemar Andrade
"There are a number of things to consider here if you're operating outside of the season, one when you're operating in a close season situation, we have the power to seize your boat and equipment, so that means you won't be able to continue to fish until that court case is heard. Secondly, with respect to operating there, we always ask for people's cooperation because the reason for that season being in place is because that is when the lobster is given a chance to ensure that there is a certain level of production when they have their young and spawning and ensuring that we are able to have recruitment of that product. We also ask the general public to cooperate by not buying product out of season, we especially ask for that. I want to also emphasize here now, we are moving into an area especially with technology that we are able to have a lot more intelligence on what is happening and so we gather intelligence and once we know that product is moving, then we slowly close in on the people who are doing it. Intelligence comes from everywhere, just like how social media helps you with a lot of things, there is a lot of intelligence that comes us through social media, through other people report it because they are seeing it and so we have a lot more opportunity now to be able to gather that intelligence to know exactly who is doing what, where it is being sold, so then we can follow that trail."
The men have not been taken to court yet.
