Cuban News Agency

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Along with measures protecting Cuban coasts from illegal activity that may
affect the international community, such as drug trafficking, the Interior
Ministry division plays its own role in favor of the environment.

In statements to Prensa Latina news agency, Lieutenant colonel Ramon
Ramirez said that in most events detected, with 532 citizens involved, the
border patrol troops jointly worked with the provincial fishing inspection
offices.

The division carried out 38 operations in Cuban waters, in specific zones
and with different aims, and another 21 actions against illegal fishers’
camps in scarcely populated areas, said Ramirez, who noted that illegal
fishing and smuggling of marine species keeps with more incidence in the zone.

Aggressions against local flora and wildlife are also reported in these
areas, particularly the hunting of native species, crocodiles, sea turtles
and the extraction of sand, plus the felling of trees, said the officer.
 
Operations against these wrongdoings included the enforcement of
legislation against the inappropriate use of boats and violations of
fishing regulations. The action of the naval and land services helped
confiscate fishing nets, and shotguns, some of them homemade.
 
Ramirez said that the operations allowed recovering 4.2 tons of marine
species including lobster and fish, while 516 rafts were confiscated.