Malaysia: Shark-finning ban draft law gets the nod

Muguntan Vanar The Star 19 Mar 12;

KOTA KINABALU: The state government has approved a draft amendment to a provision in the Fisheries Act that would ban shark hunting and finning in Sabah waters.

Tourism, Culture and Environ-ment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun confirmed the state cabinet’s decision for a ban on shark hunting.

“The state Agriculture and Food Industry Ministry has submitted the amendments to its federal counterparts.

“We hope they can take the necessary action to get the proposed provisions enacted,” he said yesterday.

Masidi said that the state was hoping that the process would not take long as Sabah was eager for the ban to be enforced and it could only be done if the federal Fisheries Act was to be amended.

The state government, over a year ago, proposed a ban on shark hunting and finning in an effort to conserve the shark population.

However, the state was unable to impose the ban on its hunting as such a law involved amending the federal Fisheries Act.

The state Fisheries authorities subsequently worked out a draft amendment to the Fisheries Act that would put in place a ban on shark hunting in Sabah waters.

The draft was approved by the state cabinet at its recent meeting and handed over to the federal authorities.

As an interim measure, the Tourism Ministry supported campaigns initiated by NGOs for people to avoid shark fin soup at restaurants.

They also concentrated on raising awareness among target groups like fishmongers to stop selling sharks and shark fins.