Around 30 fishermen from Puerto Plata are now being held in Honduras after they were arrested for fishing in Honduran waters. They had left Puerto Plata on 12 November on board the ship “Melissa Lynn” to fish in open waters of the Caribbean. They were arrested by the Honduras coast guard “Lempira” supposedly in Honduran territorial waters. On board they had 30,000 lbs of fish.
The men were ordered to pay fines but were authorized to return to the Dominican Republic. Dominican ambassador in Honduras, Marino Berigüete, said that he has followed up on the case. He said the fishermen are on the boat and not in prison, but that the owners of the boat are expected to pay the penalty imposed by the Honduran government to begin the legal process for their return.
He called on the fishermen’s relatives to be patient, since despite being in the Christmas period a diplomatic and judicial process must be exhausted, given the violation of Honduran sea law.
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El Dia
23 December 2019