I urge the relevant authorities including the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) and Sabah Fisheries Department to curb the illegal fishing of Sabah waters.
I was informed by reliable sources that at least ten foreign fishing vessels from Hong Kong and China entering our ports illegally to load live fish catches. The destination ports of entering are Pulau Ketam, Penang, Johor Bahru, Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan, Tawau and Semporna.
All the foreign fishing vessels are not international registered vessels and therefore it is wrong for them to operate in our waters. Fishing vessels are not allowed by any country to enter to any other country’s sea to catch or load fish. Fishing boat would not possible to receive a port clearance due to the international specification is needed to enter international sea or route. Therefore the port clearance owned by the foreign fishing vessels could be forged. It could be a syndicate behind as the foreign vessels have port clearance documents from the respective countries to conceal their illegal presence in Malaysian waters.
Furthermore, all the vessels captain and crew do not possess any verified license and certification.The vessel itself is lacking of any safety equipment and sanitation facilities.
Allowing foreign fishing vessels freely operate in our waters is equivalent to allowing cross border criminals happen rampantly in our place. If all the relevant authorities can’t even control the illegal fishing, how can we expect them to protect the security of our waters?
It is serious issue, as the State Fisheries Department director Datuk Rayner Stuel Galid had warned in April that Sabah’s fish stocks and marine biodiversity could be reduced beyond sustainability within four decades.
I suggest that tough measures should be taken to protect Sabah’s 1,700km coastline from illegal foreign fishermen and their damaging practices such as blast fishing. These illegal fishermen were also involved in other damaging activities including using sodium cyanide to fish and illegal fishing nets, which scour the seabed trapping turtles and other marine creatures.
Our government agencies should be committed to safeguard the depleting stock of varitey species of our sea. Sabah’s waters, which contains 1200 species of fish, 75% of the nation’s coral reefs, also has 476 species of coral, 400 species of marine algae and 16 species of sea grasses.The waters off the state is also home to 22 marine mammal species and five out of seven species of marine turtles.
I call upon all the relevant authorities especially Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) and Sabah Fisheries Department to enforce the law as they are entrusted by the people. Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission should step in to investigate any corruption involved in the issues.