KUALA LUMPUR: MALAYSIA has sent a strong message to Vietnam that it is fully committed to protecting its billions of ringgit of fish and marine resources in the South China Sea.
On April 25, Malaysia initiated a multi-agency task force to safeguard its 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) from poaching by Vietnamese trawlers.
Wisma Putra followed it up by sending a strong protest note to Hanoi, via its ambassador here on May 8, signalling its “war” against the marauding trawlers.
The task force is understood to have mobilised an assortment of maritime, naval, marine and fisheries assets and thousands of personnel, with “eye in the sky” support from the air force.
The latest success was on May 11 when the Royal Malaysian Navy’s patrol vessel, KD Pahang, detained a fleeing Vietnamese trawler about 130 nautical miles northeast of Kemaman, along with its crew of 14.
On the same day, another trawler with 29 crew members was detained by the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA), about 80 nautical miles off Kuching, Sarawak.
On May 4, MMEA detained a Vietnamese trawler, with a crew of 24, 83 nautical miles from Kuala Pahang.
MMEA director-general Admiral Datuk Seri Zulkifli Abu Bakar said the task force would not relent in battling the illegal activities of Vietnamese fishermen, who were illegally harvesting RM6 billion worth of fish annually.
Indirectly, the destruction of coral reefs on idyllic islands off Terengganu, Pahang, Johor, Sarawak and Sabah is affecting Malaysia’s mega tourism industry.
The New Sunday Times has learnt that Malaysia is contemplating increasing the severity of punishments for the culprits as a stronger deterrent.
Zulkifli said: “The Vietnamese fishermen do not seem to be rattled by the increased punishments from their authorities who have amended their Fishery Law. Even the Yellow Card issued (in October 2017) to Vietnam by the European Union does not seem to be effective.”
The Yellow Card is a warning that Vietnam has not been tackling illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, resulting in a complete ban on exports to Europe, which is the world’s biggest importer of fisheries products.
The global value of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing is estimated at €10 billion to €20 billion (RM46.64 billion to RM93.27 billion) a year. Between 11 million and 26 million tonnes of fish are caught illegally a year, constituting at least 15 per cent of world catches.
Thailand was slapped with a Yellow Card in April 2015, but it was removed in January this year after it successfully addressed shortcomings in its fisheries legal and administrative systems.
Zulkifli believes the Vietnamese authorities face a daunting task in tackling the situation.
“I believe there are tens of thousands of Vietnamese fishing vessels and their authorities are having a hard time containing them.”
The NSU has learnt that there are 80,000 Vietnamese trawlers, and the fishermen, who are driven by poverty, resort to poaching because they want to reap quick profits.