KUALA TERENGGANU: The country’s fish stock is in danger of being depleted owing to over-exploitation and poaching.
Fisheries Department director-general Datuk Munir Mohd Nawi said therefore preventive and rehabilitative measures would be implemented through fisheries management plan to overcome the situation of global warming, climate change and pollution.
Studies on 7,800 marine species around the world’s ecosystems by global marine experts concluded that nearly 90 per cent of global fish stocks were either fully fished or overfished.
“And by 2048, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has forecast a total seafood depletion in the world, despite an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development forecast of a 17 per cent rise in fish production by 2025,” he said at the opening of a programme by the Marine Fishery Resources Development and Management Department at the South-East Asian Fisheries Development Centre in Chendering.
The International Training Course on Population Dynamics and Stock Assessment of an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Country’ was specifically for Bangladesh.
Munir called for stricter control, supervision and management of marine life to avoid dire consequences in the coming years.
Munir said that Malaysian fishermen caught nearly one million tonnes of seafood annually, with about 40,000 tonnes kept as frozen reserves.
“The situation is more challenging during the current monsoon season when small-vessel fishermen are hindered from going out to sea, thus, depleting supplies.
“But we manage somehow by importing seafood to meet local demand, especially for restaurants, for premium fish like salmon, red snapper and mussels,” he said.
Alternately, he said, there were efforts to improve enforcement against illegal fishing, especially by foreign vessels which destroyed marine life like corals, by using trawler nets.
One of the measures, he said, was to prevent the use of trawler nets within 12 nautical miles inshore, to protect the productive zone comprising corals and reefs at marine parks and breeding grounds.
“International ecologists and economists discovered that the loss of biodiversity impaired the ability of oceans to feed the world’s growing human population which was expectedd to rise by 50 per cent to nine billion in 2050.
“The studies showed that more people were eating fish as protein source,” he said.
Munir added there was a global initiative in place to preserve marine life to meet the increasing demand for seafood.
On the programme with Bangladesh, he said Malaysia wanted to share its pro-active knowledge and expertise with them.
So far, a total of 18 Bangladesh officials had been trained by Malaysia.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Fisheries and Livestock Ministry deputy secretary Md Mudasser Billah said the initiative was a capacity-building effort to help his country improve its seafood supply.
The ministry’s co-deputy secretary S.M. Tarique said the government-to-government initiative was very useful as Malaysia had advanced marine technology.
Bangladesh Fisheries Department assistant director Mosammat Rashida Akter said despite an annual catch of 63 million tonnes of fish, the supply was not sufficient for her country, which also suffered losses owing to illegal fishing.