KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah government has been urged to seek help from federal authorities to tackle issues affecting its marine properties such as fish bombing.
Sabah Wanita MCA chairman said the Parti Warisan Sabah-led state government should enlist the help of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) and even the Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSCOM).
"This is needed to monitor the state's maritime lanes, quell unlicensed water activities and detain the perpetrators who are reported to be from neighbouring countries," she said in a statement.
Yong was responding to recent news reports of divers encountering loud blasts and vibrations, supposedly due to fish-bombing activities, as well as sightings of turtle carcasses trapped in ghost nets at Mantanani island off Kota Belud.
The state government, she said, has to work with the federal government and step up enforcement to take urgent and expedient measures to protect its underwater treasures.
Fish bombing activities, she said, destroy marine life and coral reefs and jeopardise the state's tourism industry, on top of possibly posing a danger to human life.
On July 5 last year, two divers from China and their diving instructor, a local, were killed in waters off Pulau Kalapuan in Semporna, said to be due to underwater blasts.
"Reviving Sabah's tourism industry, which sank to almost zero during the Movement Control Order (MCO) period, is urgently required.
"Endeavouring to ensure the conservation of our coral reefs and wildlife serves a dual purpose, which are the protection of endangered and threatened species as well as contributing towards the continuation of Sabah being a tourism haven."