SANDAKAN: Fishermen here are upset with the state government’s decision to ban the export of fresh seafood from Sabah, as announced by Agriculture and Food Industry Minister Datuk Yahya Hussin last Monday.
According to a fisherman from Kampung Kuala Gum-Gum here, Abdul Said Gamura, 53, almost all of his daily catches are sold to a factory which chills the fish and exports to Kuala Lumpur by plane.
“How are we supposed to survive if we are not allowed to export fish any more? It is impossible to sell all the fish we catch everyday. I cannot imagine how I am supposed to feed my children if I cannot sell my fish to the factory anymore,” he said.
Abdul’s daily catch varies according to season, from 40kg to more than 200kg of fish, prawns and crabs.
He said during the season, with more fish (March to July) he could catch more than 200kg of seafood and would sell all to the factory for around RM6 per kilogram while the rest of his catch would be sold at the Mile 8 market here.
Abdul said on good days, he could sell about 80 per cent of his catch at the market.
“It is impossible to sell all 200kg of seafood in the market. This applies not only to me but to all the fishermen in Sabah,” he said.
Abdul, who is a father of eight children, owns five small boats and has been a fisherman for the last 50 years, whose father was also a fisherman.
“I hope the government would consider revising the decision to ban seafood exports,” he said while adding that the decision would greatly impact small fishermen such as himself.
At Kampung Kuala Gum-Gum alone, there are about 60 fishing boats and they catch about three to seven tonnes of seafood a day.
With the banning of seafood export from Sabah, fishermen would have no choice but to sell their catch in the markets.
Abdul added that another problem faced by small fishermen was the seasonal seafood catch. He said if it was the crab season (July to September), he would catch about 200kg of crabs a day.
He said every year when this happened, the catch would be sold to a factory which would export the seafood to Peninsular Malaysia.
“Now that we cannot sell the crabs to the factory, how are we supposed to sell 200kg of crabs in the market everyday?” he questioned.
Meanwhile, chairman of the Sandakan Fishing Association, Phua Peh Chee said Yahya’s reason to ban seafood export, that we did not have sufficient seafood supply to export, is unacceptable.
“Not only that we have sufficient seafood supply, we have extra. Banning frozen seafood products will affect lower income fishermen and they will earn even less than they are earning now,” he said.
Phua told reporters at a press conference here that he hoped the government would look into the decision to ban Sabah seafood products to be exported to Peninsula Malaysia, Sarawak and out of the country.