Abang Johari (second right) and Assistant Minister of Urban Planning, Land Administration and Environment Datu Len Talif Salleh , who is also SFC chairman arriving for the dinner.
KUCHING: The state government has allocated RM70 million for the placement of reef balls along the state shoreline stretching from Tanjung Datu in Sematan to Lawas.
Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg said this was to protect the state waters from foreign fishing vessels and part of the state’s conservation initiative.
“Our shoreline has to be protected and that is why I have given a special allocation of RM70 million for us to place reef balls to prevent intrusion by foreign fishing vessels and to preserve our fish for our local fishermen,” the chief minister explained.
He was speaking at Sarawak Forestry Corporation’s (SFC) 15th anniversary dinner yesterday.
Reef balls, or artificial reef modules, are commonly spherical in shape and function as a replacement for natural reefs, creating a new habitat for fish, coral and other sea creatures to flourish in.
Abang Johari also pointed out that the state could no longer depend on timber as a main source of revenue.
“People all over the world want to see our forests and wildlife, and if we can attract people to come in, we can devise a tax for them to see our forests, to turn this into a revenue stream for us,” he said, adding that the state was fortunate and blessed with unique flora and fauna.
Abang Johari added that new technology was necessary to protect the forests from destruction.
In view of this, he said SFC needed a data centre that would be able to link the various strategic areas in our forests.
This would enable logging activities, whether licenced or illegal, to be detected in real time, he said.