Coast Guard Commander Says Fishermen Still Using Gillnets

Even though the ban on gillnet use has been in place for a few years, some people are still using this illegal fishing method. Gillnets are notorious for their indiscriminate capture of marine life, trapping and killing everything in their path. Fishermen often throw the dead animals back into the sea. Coast Guard Commandant, Rear Admiral Elton Bennett, explained that seamen must constantly patrol the waters to catch gillnet users. Recently, they’ve confiscated gillnets in Belize City, Gales Point, and Monkey River.

 

Rear Admiral Elton Bennett, Commandant, Belize Coast Guard

“We are actively always on the lookout for Gillnets, and we have recovered quite a few over the past few months. We have, we have recovered nets from in Belize City. As far as Hunting Key, indeed, but they’re, they’re pretty much all around. So it’s not only an issue of cross border illegal fishing. Wherever our own Belizean fisherfolks are, we are still having this illicit practice of using gillnets. We quite often receive reports of gillnets in the Monkey River area, and also in the Gales Point area. So it’s something that we’re always on the lookout for.”