The Environment Department says that it will take a government deputy to court. Deputy Juan Roque Jerez is accused of ordering the release of three people who had been arrested for damaging the environment. Franklin Reynoso, the subsecretary of Natural Resources, says Jerez will be brought to justice as well as anyone else who violates natural resources. The three men released by Jerez had been detained for various offences, including cutting down 50 trees and clearing land without permission. Meanwhile, in Monte Cristi about 200 fishermen overturned a truck belonging to the Environment Department in retribution for the destruction of some fishing nets. Last week, the Department of Protected Areas and Biodiversity and the Navy seized a fishing net and a bag filled with fish less than 10 centimeters in size. A government spokesmen told El Siglo that the net was illegal because it catches fish that are too small and therefore prevents the species from reproducing and maintaining the fishery in that area. The authorities burned the net in question. In anger, the fishermen then overturned and damaged the truck. The Environment Department has criticized the Monte Cristi provincial governor for collecting and donating RD$40,000 to the fisherman to replace his illegal net. El Siglo denounces that a new business to catch small fish for sale to Haitians has the support of politicians in that province.
