Two poachers engaged in the collection of sea urchins, a practice prohibited according to the new regional decree, were stopped by a patrol of the forestry and environmental surveillance corps of the Alghero forest station during an inspection in the marine protected area of Capo Caccia-Isola Piana and the Porto Conte regional park.
To make the foresters suspicious, a car parked on a pitch along the SP n.55, in the locality of "Punta del Dentul", with the occupant who, at the sight of the patrol, moved away hastily.
Right where the car stopped, the foresters discovered two large bags full of freshly caught sea urchins.
A few meters from the car, another person carrying two more bags of sea urchins was stopped along a path.
From a check carried out in the vicinity, three other bags overflowing with sea urchins were found, for a total of 2,270 freshly picked urchins.
The poachers, who in the moment following the discovery also tried to take away two of the bags already seized, were reported to the judicial authority for the crime of catching sea urchins in a protected marine area.
The sea urchins were immediately thrown back into the sea and returned to their delicate ecosystem.
(Unioneonline / vl)
