It is 5 pm on September 4, 2024 in the Sanctuary of Mammals Sailors in Estero Hondo, Puerto Plata. Two fishermen They walk among the mangroves with a hammock on the shoulders of one of them.
They know that there should no longer be access to tourists to the area and that the park ranger have withdrawn or are preparing to leave the protected area.
At 5:30 they open the grid and they begin to close it slowly in search of fish, while a group of manateeis in the surrounding area.
They are fishing in front of the observation towers of manateeisin the core of the protected area. They do not know that they are being observing with a drone.
On the screen you can see a manatee less than two meters from the grid and suddenly, stressed, he moves away from the place, leaving a trail of sediment from the strong tail flaps during his escape.
It is notified to administrator of the protected area, who is present at the site and verifies the activity of the fishermen within the area. Request that I make it photographs to both fishermen to identify them and subsequently bring them to justice.
The fishermennoticing the presence of the dronequickly pick up the grid and escape from the area between the mangroves.
On the screen you can see two Dominicans middle-aged, to whom the administrator does not recognize in the photographsbut assumes they are from nearby communities.
Despite having surprised the fishermen in open crime, the park ranger They can’t chase them. They don’t have boatonly an outboard motor assigned by the Ministry of Environment. When they manage to get a boatalready the fishermen have escaped.
The images are immediately sent to the Vice Ministry of Protected Areas and the Vice Ministry of Coastal and Marine Affairs of the Ministry of the Environment as evidence of the crime.
Networks and the manatees
The manateeis They are marine mammals on the Red List of endangered species. extinction and one of the main causes of death in the Dominican Republic is drowning in networks of fishingIn recent years, deaths have been reported in Samaná, San Cristóbal, Montecristi and other provinces due to this cause.
Other causes are boat strikes and the fishing direct, although the latter has decreased in recent years.
Recently, the death of a small manatee calf was reported in Montecristi, which has been unofficially attributed to drowning in a grid of fishing of Haitians. However, a report from the National Aquarium, which analyzed the remains of the animal, does not determine the cause of death due to the advanced state of decomposition. Another version indicates that it could have been due to a blow from a boat.
In 2020, personnel from the Vice Ministry of Marine Coastal Resources unexpectedly intervened on Palenque beach, in San Cristóbal, with the aim of seizing networks of fishing which they consider to be an attack on marine life and the ecosystem.
After several evaluations of the impact of the networks In that area, the Ministry explained to Free Newspaper that in the present ecosystems the death of a manatee had been reported and turtles marine species that were caught in seines and trammel nets. In addition to the capture of juvenile fish.
In April of this year, a drug was reported and confiscated. trammel net at the mouth of the Yaque del Norte in Montecristi, a place they frequent manateeis to drink fresh water, representing a serious danger to the manateeis from the area.
In 2021, the death of another manatee was reported due to grid of fishing on Arroyo Higüero beach, Samaná.
As for the networks Outside the protected areas, Law 307-04, which creates the Dominican Council of Fishing and Aquaculture (Codopesca), prohibits the use of trawl nets and networks trawling at the mouths of waterways, in estuaries, bays, seagrass beds and reef areas.
The Vice Minister of Protected Areas, Carlos (Cau) Batista, regarding the case of Estero Hondo and the problem of nets in prohibited areas, told Diario Libre that the new administration of this ministry is carrying out a survey of the needs for resources and equipment in protected areas.
“We are currently in the process of gathering information on assets, and in the case of Estero Hondo, in addition to the surveillance center, there must be boats, weapons and other equipment for the park rangers,” he said.
“We are also in the process of investigating to find those responsible and bring them to justice. In addition, we are putting up the appropriate signage, so that no one can claim ignorance that this is a no-fishing zone. And, finally, we are strengthening the protection and surveillance system, to have park rangers available 24 hours a day.”
