OUR marine resources are being looted by foreign trawlers.
A special task force was set up on April 25 to rein in Vietnamese trawlers, which have scooped up marine resources to the tune of RM6 billion. This may be out of our collective sight.
Terengganu fisherman Mohd Farizan Dillah had often chanced on the foreign trawlers, but he could only watch as they swept clean everything in their path.
The locals’ nets and fish traps would be gobbled up by the trawlers huge nets, along with the fish, turtles and marine features.
Even at the height of the squid-jigging season now, Farizan is lucky if he can get four kilogrammes of squids a day. Sadly, this hardly covers his costs of going out to sea, let alone of providing for his family.
The Pew Research Centre reports that illegal and unreported fishing worldwide accounts for up to 26 million metric tonnes of fish annually, worth up to US$23.5 billion (RM98.55 billion). With nearly 90 per cent of the world’s fisheries exploited or overexploited, it is more critical than ever that steps be taken to address illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing.
Fishermen are big on order and routine. They are up even as those live football matches from Europe are about to be aired at 3.45am.
As others “kick” every ball from the living rooms enthralled by the live football action, the fishermen speed away on their motorcycles to the jetties.
Imagine a little training. Donning a smart uniform. They could be transformed into the nation’s newest brigade in the mould of the old Home Guard to watch over our fisheries and marine resources.
They may be no match for the trawlers with their 400-horsepower engines and navigational gadgets, but the vast network of volunteers can form a large net with narrow patrolling grids to monitor the hotspots 24/7 and report suspicious activities to the authorities.
Yes, they are watchers and informers; their presence at sea will make a difference. And the allowances to be paid to them would help raise their spending power.
This is an investment that at least on paper should generate more revenue for industry participants.
Arresting the illegal activity requires a broad, long-term, persistent and coordinated effort. Adopting smart technology — drones could capture photographs and record videos of the vessels encroaching on our waters — the evidence can be used to lodge complaints with the trawler’s country of origin.
And if the situation escalates into a territorial dispute, the records of formal complaints are admissible in international court proceedings.
Making use of available assets to assert Malaysia’s sovereignty over its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) should also be part of the effort.
Singapore’s submarines have been known to surface near Pulau Batu Putih to scare off foreign boats venturing too close to it. Sovereignty has to be exercised to be of any meaning.
If foreign vessels can come into our EEZ and do as they please, over time they can claim traditional fishing rights by showing the records of how they had fished in our territorial waters with impunity.
Malaysia, most certainly, cannot allow that to happen.