Uggah speaking to reporters after opening the ISP seminar yesterday. — Photo by Tan Song Wei (File Photo)
KUCHING: The government has revoked 35 Class C2 licences for deep sea fishing and suspended 106 permits issued to local operators for abusing their licences, disclosed Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas.
He said the state was particularly concerned with the abuse of Class C2 licence by local operators and had conveyed a request to the federal government for the state government to vet all applications prior to approval.
“After the investigation (of such abuse), 35 licences have been revoked due to non-compliance with licence procedures and conditions set by Department of Fisheries Malaysia and 106 permits have been suspended,” Uggah told The Borneo Post here yesterday.
Uggah, who is also the Minister of Modernisation of Agriculture and Rural Economy, revealed that he had a meeting with representatives from various federal government agencies on June 28 this year to discuss the issuance of new deep sea fishing permits.
He said the meeting was attended by representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry, deputy director-general of Fisheries Department Zulkifli Abdul Rashid and the director-general of Malaysian Fishery Development Board (LKIM) Sa’dom Abdul Wahap.
“In that meeting, the state government conveyed the request for all applications to be vetted by the state government prior to the approval,” Uggah reiterated.
He added that he would be making an appointment with Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek to discuss the issue further.
He was responding to The Borneo Post’s report yesterday which quoted Miri Fishermen Association chairman Cr Jamali Basri as saying he had requested the state government to put a stop to the abuse of Class C2 licence for deep sea fishing by local operators who allowed foreign trawlers to use the licence in the country’s coastal waters.
Jamali said the problem had been highlighted frequently but the issuance of such licences which came under the federal authority had remained unresolved.
“We (fishermen) cannot tolerate this matter any longer. The state government must help us to stop the abuse of C class licence by the local holders which has been going on since the 90s,” he was quoted by The Borneo Post in Miri.
He claimed that at present 81 foreign trawlers from Vietnam, Thailand and China were using the Class C2 licence to operate deep sea fishing without any restriction.
He also said these foreign trawlers disregarded the licence regulation by conducting massive fishing activities including at the coral reefs area which resulted in damage to the coral reefs and marine life.
“The local fishermen are complying with the licence regulation which demand us to conduct fishing activities from 6am until 6pm in addition to not disturbing the marine life at coral reef areas.
“We are the one facing the huge losses as such uncontrolled fishing activities have depleted our marine resources. They are actually robbing our marine supply. Thus, we want the government to stop the issuance of the licence to prevent the current situation from getting worst since it did not bring any benefit to the local fishermen,” added Jamali.