GEORGE TOWN: The Agriculture and Food Industry Ministry (Mafi) may submit a proposal to the Department of Environment (DoE) to withdraw the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) approval for the controversial Penang South Reclamation (PSR) project.
Deputy Minister II Datuk Che Abdullah Mat Nawi said Mafi may also submit a proposal to the DoE not to approve the Environment Management Plan (EMP) of the project which was resubmitted by the state recently.
"The possibility is always there, looking at the negative effects of the massive reclamation project on the environment and the fishing community.
"We will examine our role and duty to see to this (to ensure the PSR project is cancelled)," he said after a visit to the fishing community of Sungai Batu and Teluk Kumbar here this morning.
The fishing community in the southern tip of the island are expected to be adversely impacted by the PSR project when it kicks off.
The EIA for the PSR project, which will see the creation of three-manmade islands measuring 4,500 acres, was approved back in 2019 with 72 conditions to ensure mitigation measures, among which include the EMP.
The state obtained an extension for the EIA, which now expires on June 23, 2022.
Che Abdullah had recently said the project was a "disaster to Penang fishermen" and claimed it would destroy the national fisheries sector.
His claim, however, was debunked by Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow, who had said that the project would in fact improve the socio-economic situation of fishermen.
The state government is adamant to push ahead with the project despite widespread criticisms by its detractors.
The latest debate on the PSR project came about after PKR's Permatang Pauh member of parliament Nurul Izzah Anwar said the massive reclamation project should be cancelled because of the immediate pressing needs of the Covid-19 pandemic, and to preserve Penang's valuable fishing grounds, the livelihoods of fishermen and overall food security.
This morning, Che Abdullah again reiterated his objection against the PSR project, agreeing with Nurul Izzah that it should be cancelled.
He said he had spoken to various stakeholders, who included non-governmental organisations, the fishing community and local leaders, to better understand the situation.
"I am not here for political purposes, rather my presence here is for the fisheries sector, which is a very important one. Based on reports, about 87 species of marine live will be threatened if the reclamation project proceeds, and some of these species such as the white pomfret, the white prawn and tiger prawn, bring the most revenue to the fishing industry.
"As such, I fail to understand the state's insistence to push ahead with this project. And instead of looking at the bigger picture, the state is going into the 'nitty gritty'. No amount of ex-gratia can ever replace the loss of livelihood for the fishing community," he added.
Che Abdullah also said the former Mafi minister Datuk Salahuddin Ayub had asked the Penang government to conduct two studies – the ontogenetic migration of penaeus merguiensis and metapenaeus ensis (kinds of prawn) following the impact of dredging and reclamation of PSR on the two prawn population and their fisheries, over a one year cycle, as well as the noise population impact on fish due to dredging and reclamation of PSR.
"Has these studies been completed? From what I was told, the latter study had just started while the former has yet to begin. So, why the rush to kick-start the reclamation project?" he said.
Che Abdullah also took aim at Chow's response to his earlier statement when the latter raised the issue of a passageway for fishermen to go further to sea.
"I don't understand why he is looking at the small picture when in fact we are talking about the destruction to marine habitat and beyond.
It is even more shocking when he claimed that the fish in the area only contributed about 0.2 per cent to the country's fishery industry. As the chief minister, he should be working to improve the fishing resources in the area," he added.
He also noted that the fish landings at the site of the PSR project totalled 13,418.11 tonnes per year or 24.5 per cent of the overall landings in the state.