Malaysia: Join forces to stop fish bombing – Pang

Borneo Post 16 Sep 17;

KOTA KINABALU: Assistant Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Pang Yuk Ming has called on the relevant enforcement agencies to share their intelligence on fish bombing and join forces with his ministry to eradicate the illegal fishing activity.

Pang, who is chairman of the Anti-Fish Bombing Committee, said the professional non-governmental organization (NGO) Reef Check has conducted a long-term investigation and study on fish bombing activities in Sabah waters.

In the Reef Check’s report which was presented during the second Maritime Environmental Security Workshop 2017 recently, Pang said the NGO had identified at least three foreign vessels that have been resorting to large-scale fish bombing activities in Sabah waters.

He said the bombed fish was later processed into products such as salted fish.

“Any enforcement agencies who wish to have a copy of the detailed report can approach the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Environment.

“We are happy to share the information on fish bombing in order to curb this illegal activity,” he said yesterday.

Under Sabah’s Blue Ocean Strategy, Pang said the State was aiming to comply with the United Nation’s recommendation of having at least 10 per cent of its sea as protected area.

“I believe Sabah will be the first state that achieves this goal in the region.”

He went on to say that tourist arrivals from China, Taiwan and Korea were expected to increase significantly from 600,000 visitors last year to 750,000 this year.

“Next year, the tourist arrivals from China, Taiwan and Korea are expected to exceed 1 million visitors.”

He said these tourists loved the seafood in Sabah.

“Therefore, we must strive to protect our marine resources to ensure sufficient supply to cater for the demand.”

He said illegal fishing methods would continue to spread if Sabah did not have proper and systematic maritime environmental protection measures.

“Ultimately, Sabah will run out of seafood as we are only left with smaller fish.”

Pang said the government took the issue of fish bombing seriously and his ministry has implemented various measures to eradicate this activity.

At the moment, he said the government should focus on stopping fish bombing activities carried out by foreign vessels in the deep sea.

Pang said the government was also guiding small fishermen living along the coastline and those involved in fish bombing to earn a better living through fish farming and tourism instead.