Guam - The island's fishing community is reeling over fishermen who are illegally net fishing in restricted areas. The situation has forced the Port Authority to issue yet another advisory warning: if you are caught you will be arrested.

The law is clear, according to Port Authority General Manager Pedro Leon Guerrero, that no nets or trap devices of any kind can be used for fishing in the local marinas. "There's other areas on Guam to net fish and good luck with that," he said.

Since early November 2011 the port has been issuing notices to the public warning them that net fishing is prohibited, that's around the time authorities caught one man in the Hagatna waters doing such activity. "We had one person issued a violation for net fishing. That person contested. As a matter of fact, earlier today came to me and he is contesting the charge and I spoke to him and will take it under advisement and do my due diligence to investigate the situation," he said.

He declined to discuss further details until he completes his independent investigation. But the notices from them kept coming out of the Port, and Leon Guerrero says they got word just last week from the fishing community that other fishermen were again illegally net fishing in Hagatna. Leon Guerrero said, "We went down there to check it, we didn't see anything at the time, but we want to use this opportunity to remind the public the prohibitions and restrictions of net fishing in the Marina.

"The Port Authority is very interested not so much in getting people arrested or fining people but interested in continuing to keep the marina safe, we also have to make sure people understand there is a regulation we are bound to enforce the current regulation."

The Port warns anyone caught will be arrested and the fish will be released. The law states the violation is a misdemeanor, and the person may be fined up to $1,000 and may be placed behind bars for up to one year. The detailed fishing regulations are on the Port Authority of Guam's web site.