KOTA KINABALU: The Kota Kinabalu member of parliament, Hiew King Cheu, said he had received complaints from local fishing boat and trawler owners concerning the big number of foreign fishing boats and trawlers, believed from Vietnam, operating in Sabah waters.
He said about 100 Vietnamese trawlers are operating in Malaysian waters.
“Our local fishermen are complaining as to why these foreign fishing boats are allowed to operate in Sabah waters and catching our fish,” said Hiew yesterday.
Hiew, who is Sabah DAP adviser, said it is believed that many good quality fishes are caught in Malaysian waters and then transferred to foreign ships waiting in the international open sea and later quietly shipped out of Malaysia.
“The foreign fishing boats usually come back to our shores with the low grade fishes and sold to our local fishmongers and fish markets,” he said in a statement.
According to him further, these foreign fishing boats were even seen catching the precious protected sea turtles and shipped to overseas market where they fetch higher prices.
“In the past, some of these foreign fishing boats were caught by the marine police and the Fisheries Department enforcement units, and some of the sea turtles were saved and released back to sea but unfortunately many of them died.”
Hiew asked the state Fisheries Department to clarify the claims by some of the complainants that these foreign fishing boats and trawlers had been issued with permits by the department to carry out fishing activities in Sabah waters.
“The interest of the local fishing industry must be protected and our precious marine live must be safeguarded at all cost.
“Those who had abused the fishing licences issued to them should have them cancelled and punished heavily. We want an explanation from the authorities why these happened,” he said.