Viet boats affect Sabah event
Published on: Sunday, July 23, 2017
Kota Kinabalu: The Sabah International Fishing Tournament (SIFT) has been affected by the adverse effects of destructive and unsustainable fishing by encroaching Vietnamese fishing vessels in Sabah waters progressively over the years.Sabah Anglers Association President Datuk Wilfred Lingham said sea recreational fishermen doing sport fishing support the pleas by commercial fishing community to ban Vietnamese fishing vessels. Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had earlier called to bar all foreign fishing vessels not only in Sarawak waters, but also Sabah.Wilfred insisted that his association wanted this ban extended to Sabah waters backing the well founded and valid contention of many commercial fishermen based in Sabah who complained of non-action by the authorities in the State on the matter despite repeated pleas over the years.
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Unlike Malaysia, Indonesia introduced a drastic policy to safeguard its food security by blasting boats of foreigners during illegal fishing in its waters. Malaysian boats have been among those destroyed."We have been assigned to organise the Sabah International Fishing Tournament (SIFT) by the Sabah Tourism Board for more than 20 years."This is now a well-established and mature Sabah tourism event has attracted participants from many countries around the Pacific Rim, which include China, Korea and Japan."We noted lately many of the game fishes of Billfish that comprise Marlin, Sailfish, etc. and others like Giant Grouper and Tunas have almost disappeared," Wilfred said.
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The term "Billfish" refers to various predatory fish species typically belonging to the taxonomical family Istiophoridae. Their biological characteristics include a spear-like rostrum or "bill," which is used for slashing at and stunning prey. The dorsal fin of these species runs along a large part of their body and narrow pelvic fins. Billfish can be found spread throughout the world's oceans and are defined as highly migratory species but typically reside in tropical or sub-tropical waters.
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"The Vietnamese boats were even seen in Layang Layang." (Where a resort and a RMN naval station was set up with a land reclamation sited aircraft runway on the atoll also known as Swallow Reef, part of the contested Spratly Islands chain)."The South China Sea is the most overfished sea in the world in view of the huge populations around it," Wilfred Lingham said."Layang Layang of course is the destination for the fishing tournament held annually by our Association.""We have maintained that the Vietnamese boats do have their 'mother ship' and their catches are offloaded onto that ship as seen by many local fishermen."Wilfred questioned the need for such business set up by vested Malaysian licence holders when fishermen from the Philippines and Indonesia who are already here are equally good to be engaged as fishermen or fishing boat crews. "So why the Vietnamese?"He opined that "these Vietnamese fishing ventures with local interests are just Ali Baba business (rent-seeking economy through exploiting restricted licenses) out for quick and easy money for there is nothing special about the Vietnamese fishing method even though it is using long liners, various incidents have proven it is not so.""They were seen engaged in dragnet net fishing which is illegal and destructive.""The points raised by the Simon Hong, Chairman of the Kota Kinabalu Fishing Boats' Owners Association are well founded and valid in points." "We brought up the issue of long liners fishing about five years ago and pointed out the damage that it had on our local fishing industry.""The then Director of the Fisheries Department clarified that it was only for three years to allow 'technology transfer'.""Well, six years have passed, not only (has he retired but) there is no visible transfer of technologies but the numbers of Vietnamese fishing boats in our water have increased!""We as recreational fishermen too have experienced poor catches in the last three years. In a typical 4-days, 3-nights trip, it was normal to land an average of 30kg of all species of fishes. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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