Concern over more sightings
Published on: Friday, September 09, 2016
Kota Kinabalu: Pictures of another two foreign vessels trawling local waters for seafood is making its rounds on social media but it is still unclear if any laws had been broken. A couple of videos uploaded on Wednesday by Facebook user "Mat Sah" had got Netizens riled up over the state of affairs in Sabah fishing.Mat Sah's status reads, "Video rakaman aktiviti kapal Vietnam yg tidak di pantau dan beroperasi di perairan Sabah...ADVERTISEMENT Jika berterusan operasi kapal kapal Vietnam ini, Sabah akan berhadapan kepupusan sumber makanan laut." (A video recording of the Vietnamese boats that are not monitored operating off the coast of Sabah…if such operations continue, Sabah will have no more seafood). When contacted, the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) said the presence of the foreign vessels on Malaysian waters is not illegal due to an existing memorandum (MoU) signed between a Vietnamese fishing company and the State Government. The MMEA statement, however, was not in sync with the Fisheries Department whose Director Dr Ahemad Sade simply, pointed out, "as far as I know, there is no such MoU." ADVERTISEMENT A MMEA spokesperson revealed the "fishing boats look Vietnamese, the crews are all Vietnamese, even the owner is Vietnamese.""But they are not against the law here because the company had signed a MoU with the State government," he said.
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Illegal fishing carried out by foreigners in the local waters had been an elusive topic until Aug 21 when the Kota Kinabalu Fishing Boat Owner Association questioned whether foreign fishermen were allowed to compete with local fishermen who are inefficiently equipped. Their comments came after several of their crew returning from a fishing expedition, spotted about eight vessels, believed to be of Vietnamese origin with Malaysian registrations, illegally fishing 44 nautical miles from Pulau Mengalum here. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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A probe was immediately launched on the instruction of Agriculture and Food Industries Minister Datuk Seri Yahya Hussin, taking the Fisheries Department to task over the association's allegations with the outcome of the investigation supposed to be revealed this week. A UMS Borneo Marine Research Institute researcher Prof. Dr Saleem Mustafa had in 2014 claimed that Sabahans are losing their seafood at a faster rate due to overfishing, increasing population and degradation of the marine habitat caused by pollution and global warming.