Kamberi showing the newspaper report on the dead dolphin and other marine life, urging the relevant authorities to investigate from all angles.
MIRI: The fishing community here wants an in-depth investigation covering all angles to be carried out to determine the cause of death of a dolphin, fish, cockles and crustaceans that were washed ashore near Luak beach on March 17.
A fisherman, Kamberi Bakar, said the crustaceans and fish including sting ray live at the bed of the sea and only a large impact caused by activities such as ‘fish bombing’ could cause the marine life to die.
“Activities such as ‘fish poisoning’ will not affect the marine life at the bed of the sea. Therefore, we call on all relevant authorities to work together to determine if the deaths were caused by ‘fish bombing’ and to catch the culprits,” Kamberi told The Borneo Post yesterday when commenting on the dead marine creatures washed ashore.
According to Kamberi, local fishermen will not use dynamite or poison to catch fish as they know that this method will destroy all marine life at sea, big or small.
He said local fishermen were shocked to hear of the incident and if it was true that fish bombing was the main cause, concrete measures must be taken to prevent such incident from happening again.
“We don’t want fish bombing activities like in Sabah done by foreign fishermen which destroy the corals and marine life,” he stressed, adding that the Sibuti-Miri coral reefs are a protected zone.
Commenting further on a report that a Beach Republic staff had found many dead clams and cockles washed ashore near Luak beach after sensing something unusual when he detected a stench blown from the sea, Kamberi said there was a possibility that fish bombing could be the cause.
However, he noted that Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) would investigate and determine the cause of the death of the marine life.
A dolphin was among the dead marine creatures washed ashore last Friday.
SFC deputy general manager Oswald Braken Tisen said the carcass had been brought to SFC Miri for examination and was later buried at Piasau Nature Reserve.
“We are still investigating the cause of death of the dolphin, whether it was injured or was old and sick,” said Oswald.
Asked why fish, cockles and crustaceans also died along that stretch of the sea, Braken said he had yet to receive further report.