A suspected poacher was shot in the stomach in Kandal province last week after threatening to electrocute a policeman with illegal fishing equipment, authorities said Sunday.
Local police last Tuesday surprised a group of men using car batteries to catch fish in a pond in Ponheu Leu district, Kandal Province Deputy Police Chief Tom Vai said Sunday. The suspected poachers fled, ignoring warning shots fired into the air.
When a policeman attempted to grab one of the fleeing suspects, the suspect threatened the officer with his electric fishing equipment, Tom Vai said. Frightened by the attack, the policeman lost his footing on the muddy banks of the pond. He fired his gun as he slipped, wounding the suspected poacher, Tom Vai said.
The suspect is in serious condition at Phnom Penh’s Calmette Hospital, Tom Vai said.
The shooting comes in the midst of a series of arrests across the country aimed at stopping illegal fishing techniques. In Banteay Meanchey province, authorities carried out three busts last week that netted 40 people, the province’s Military Police Chief Rath Sreang said last week.
In Kompong Thom, a crackdown earlier this month led to the arrests of 15 people also accused of electrocuting fish, said Van Phanny, director of the province’s fisheries office. The suspects’ equipment was confiscated and the men were detained briefly to be “educated to stop illegal fishing,” Van Phanny said.
The suspected poachers worked with the cooperation of local authorities, who took $25 bribes for each battery in exchange for turning a blind eye to the practice, Kompong Thom Provincial Police Chief Men Sothy said.
Each fisherman caught between 20 kg and 30 kg of fish a day, with a surplus of dead fish floating to the surface and clogging nearby lakes and streams, Men Sothy said.
The arrests come in the wake of a new crackdown backed by Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has vowed to eliminate illegal fishing and make the division of fishing lots fairer.
In a statement last week, the premier appealed to villagers to use only legal methods to catch fish and encouraged them to take the law into their own hands if they encountered dishonesty among officials.
“I appeal to villagers to arrest corrupt fisheries officials who ask for money from you,” he said.
Last month in Pursat province, a soldier and three women were killed when a rocket the soldier intended to use for fishing exploded as he tampered with it. Detonating explosives in the water, which brings the stunned fish to the surface, is another common illegal fishing method.