Abdul Mutalib (seventh right) poses for a group photo with several fishermen in Batu Satu.
Abdul Mutalib shows reporters the traditional ‘Paka’ that they were asked to use by the Fisheries Department to catch ‘bubuk’.
In the modern method a net is tied to two rods on an engine boat which the fishermen claim can give better harvest of ‘bubuk’.
MIRI: The state Marine Fisheries Department yesterday chased away several fishermen from Pantai Batu Satu for using baby trawlers to catch ‘bubuk’.
Sarawak Marine Fisheries Department Region 3 head Buniamin Kiprawi said they were chased away because using baby trawlers to catch ‘bubuk’ is illegal.
“The operation was carried out to get rid of those fishermen by chasing them away as they are not permitted to use baby trawlers.
“It is an offence under the Fisheries Act to use baby trawlers or trawlers within five nautical miles from seashore. We are not taking any legal actions against them but we have the right to do so,” he said when contacted yesterday.
Buniamin said the department had been very lenient to them over the past years by giving advices and warnings to them to not use trawlers as they are destructive to marine life.
He pointed out that trawlers destroy the seabed, the nursery and breeding ground of all kinds of marine organism.
Some 50 fishermen at Kampung Batu Satu in Kuala Baram yesterday saw red when they were prohibited from going to the sea to catch ‘bubuk’ using baby trawlers (a modern method by which the net is tied to the engine of a boat) by the Marine Fisheries Department.
Yesterday was the third day of the ‘bubuk’ season here.
According to one of the fishermen, who is a member of Miri Fisherman Association (MFA), Abdul Mutalib Jaludin, 49, six officers from the department had been patrolling the area in Batu Satu by boat since morning.
“They told us that we cannot catch ‘bubuk’ using the net which is tied to our engine boat. If we want, we have to use the traditional way which is just ‘Paka’ (net tied to two wooden rods and manned manually).
“Therefore, all of the fishermen here today (yesterday) have stopped going out to the sea to catch ‘bubuk’ because no one wants to go out there risking their lives using the traditional way and we are also fearful that they (Fisheries Department) might arrest us,” he said.
Abdul Mutalib claimed that they had been using the modern method of catching ‘bubuk’ for many years despite knowing that it was illegal.
He claimed they had been asking the department for a permit to use the modern method but were told to wait until next year.
“Many of us no longer want to use the traditional way of catching Bubuk because it is time and energy consuming, dangerous and the catch is also very little compared to the modern way.
“There is no way we can support our family if we were to use only the traditional way to catch ‘bubuk’,” he said.
Because the ‘bubuk’ season occurs only once a year every fisherman looks forward to the season as it gives them better income.
The over 50 fishermen in Batu Satu yesterday requested for the state government’s help to grant them the permit so they could go back to the sea and use their boats to catch ‘bubuk’.
“We would like to ask the state government through Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem to come forward and help us with the situation as we have no one else to turn to and we also do not earn much as fishermen.
“Our lives depend on our daily catch and therefore it is important for us to get back to sea with the modern method of catching ‘bubuk’,” Abdul Mutalib said, adding that many city folk who came to Batu Satu yesterday to buy Bubuk went home empty-handed as the fishermen there did not dare go out to the sea fearing that they could be arrested by the Fisheries Department.