The Sun Daily 18 Mar 10;
IF you ever sail or ride on a boat along the coastline of Kedah or Penang, chances are you would be able to spot, even from a great distance, huge fishing trawlers lying on the waters, apparently remaining perfectly still.
Do not let the picturesque stillness fool you. Equipped with gigantic nets that can stretch up to hundreds of metres in length, these trawlers are often lined together across vast distances as they sweep the deep seas – raking in everything that comes along their paths.
While this sort of commercial activity using long nets has been going on for years, the situation has become increasingly worrying of late, with the seemingly unregulated and unrestricted manner in which such large-scale fishing operations are carried out.
As it is, more than 60% of the fish fry or spawn in the seas along the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia are being reportedly killed or trapped by these nets, which are also said to contribute to pollution.
The use of nets like the seine net, the apollo net and the push-net, all of which are designed to envelope and trap hundreds of thousands of marine lives at one go, is a source of great alarm for environmentalists and inshore fishermen.
And the concern is by no means unfounded. The use of such fishing devices has been attributed to bring about the extinction of over 30 species of sea creatures along the eastern coastline.
Sounding the panic button, the Consumers’ Association of Penang (CAP) recently called on the Kedah Fisheries Department to take stern action to control the hundreds of trawlers. For the problem does not only affect the aquatic life in the Kedah coast but is also damaging the livelihood of a few thousand inshore fishermen in Kedah, Penang and Perak.
What most people do not realise is that trawlers are not allowed to fish within five-nautical miles from the shoreline, as this zone is legally designated for inshore fishermen who use smaller nets.
In spite of that, trawler operators have been reported to be openly flouting the law even during the day to catch marine animals within the sensitive zone meant only for the inshore fishermen. In the process, countless precious species have been said to be wiped out from our waters by the unscrupulous act that has been going on for decades.
What makes the situation even more frustrating is that the illegal activities have been reported to the relevant authorities, but little action seems to have been taken. The Penang Inshore Fishermen’s Welfare Association has been urging the Fisheries Department for ages to take action against the rampant incursions but to little avail.
Tragically enough, what makes the situation particularly sinister and ironic is that there is a law, in the form of the Fisheries Act 1985, which provides for over-fishing and the related tools that can cause depletion of the seas and oceans to be banned.
The government has also been urged to review the effects of dragnets used by trawlers on marine species along the country’s coastlines.
In December, more than 1,000 inshore fishermen in Balik Pulau complained that they were affected by depleting marine harvests even as the seas become devoid of marine life, especially with the restricted fishing zones being encroached upon by the trawlers.
All this is happening along the very coastline where a prestigious World Fish Centre – whose scientific research is intended to promote preservation of sea species and foster sustainable conditions for marine life-forms to thrive – has had its international headquarters sited on the southeast side of Penang island.
The authorities must take this matter seriously before it turns into a massive environmental crisis.
Himanshu is theSun’s Penang bureau chief.
