The Civil Guard intervened this Tuesday three large and unidentified fish traps in the vicinity of the coast between Costa Teguise and Cabo Ancones, which failed to comply with different precepts of the legislation, such as lacking mandatory buoys and the identification plate.
The action was carried out by agents of the Maritime Detachment of Fuerteventura and, according to the Benemérita, citizen collaboration was fundamental in the discovery of the fish traps, since it was fishermen from the area who notified the Civil Guard.
In this way, the crew of the Río Orbigo Patrol Boat proceeded to search for the fish traps, which were located anchored at a depth of between 20 and 60 meters on the coast of Costa Teguise and Cabo Ancones. The Civil Guard proceeded to take them out of the water, verifying that their size exceeded three meters in diameter, in addition to verifying that inside them there were approximately 30 kilos of fish (abaes, samas, sargos, etc.) that were immediately returned to the sea.
The seized fish traps were transferred and subsequently deposited in Puerto Naos, where they were made available to the Vice-Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture of the Government of the Canary Islands, with the Civil Guard continuing with the operation to identify the alleged perpetrators and locate illegal fish traps.
Sanctions of up to 60,000 euros
The Civil Guard points out that the furtive use of fish traps on the maritime coast can lead to administrative sanctions of up to 60,000 euros, by virtue of the State Maritime Fisheries Law.
Currently the use of fish traps is regulated in the Order and the Royal Decree that develops the Regulations of the Fisheries Law of the Canary Islands, where a series of provisions are established such as the regulation of the identification plates of the fish traps and the minimum depth at which they must be located, as well as the buoyage of the same and permitted buoys.
The same, it is explained from the Benemérita, must have at its surface end a reflective buoy of red or orange color with a minimum dimension of 20 centimeters in diameter and must have printed the registration number of the boat to which it belongs and the name of the same. In turn, the corresponding identification plate must also be found on the body of the fish trap.
The Civil Guard recalls that it has an email address, sugerencias@guardiacivil.org, whose purpose is general attention to citizens, also serving as a channel to receive information on matters that may initiate an investigation.
