3 Hondurans Caught Illegally Fishing in the Spawning Aggregation Zone Down South

Three Honduran fishermen were busted over the weekend for illegally fishing within the Spawning Aggregation Zone at the Gladden Spit and Silk Cayes Marine Reserve in southern Belize. The trio: Edwin Carcamo Banegas, Hector Rodriguez Martinez and Wilford Machado were in a boat named Angelica when they were spotted by a patrol of SEA Rangers and the Belize Coast Guard on Sunday. The patrol found several mutton snappers in a large storage container.  The trio was taken to the Independence Magistrate’s Court and charged for engaging in commercial fishing without a valid fisherman’s license, fishing without a Special License in the Spawning Aggregation Zone and for using a vessel for commercial fishing without a valid license. The fishers were fined one thousand dollars each plus cost of court. The vessel was also seized.