By Nur Ashikin Louis
KUCHING, Aug 23: The Sarawak government now has the power to issue its own deep sea fishing licenses and capitalise on its rich marine resources in its territorial waters.
Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan noted that the empowerment of authority to the Sarawak government for Deep Sea Fishing Licensing was decided in the Special Council Meeting on the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MKMA63) on Oct 18, 2021 which was chaired by the Prime Minister Dato Sri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
He also mentioned that this matter has long been proposed to the Federal government since the reign of the former Sarawak Chief Minister, the late Pehin Sri Adenan Satem.
“At the time, Sarawak was given the authority to conduct evaluation on the applications for the deep sea fishing licenses before the applications are submitted to the Federal Department of Fisheries (DOF) director-general for endorsement.
“Now, Sarawak is not only empowered to review the applications but also to issue permits and licenses altogether,” he said when officiating at the handing over ceremony of Empowerment Letter on Deep Sea Fishing in Sarawak held at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) here today.
Awang Tengah who is also Second Minister for Natural Resources and Urban Development further said the resources in Sarawak waters are still at an optimal level that can still be explored by local fishermen, but stressed that the State is lacking in terms of fishermen who explore the deep sea zone.
“Because we have rich resources in our waters, there are a lot of encroachment by foreign fishing vessels from Thailand, Vietnam and China. The catches afterwards are marketed their countries. So we must be active to help our local fishing community,” he added.
Awang Tengah also noted that previously, the marine fisheries is managed by DOF Malaysia while the development of inland fisheries comes under the Department of Agriculture (DOA) Sarawak.
Following the empowerment to the State to issue deep sea fishing licenses, the Sarawak government through Ministry of Modernisation Of Agriculture And Regional Development (MANRED) will establish DOF Sarawak to accelerate and regulate the development of the fisheries industry in the State.
Under the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP), DOF Sarawak has been approved an allocation of over RM17 million to manage the fishery resources and increase national fish production to guarantee fish supply in Sarawak.
At the same time, Minister of Agriculture and Food Industries (MAFI) Datuk Seri Dr Ronald Kiandee informed that the latest status of the deep sea fishing vessel quota that can be licensed in Sarawak waters has been identified as 560 vessels.
“Thus, the development of Sarawak’s fishing industry has high potential to continue to be developed where there are currently 10,828 fishermen and 5,103 vessels that have produced a total of 125,000 metric tons of fish per year with a value of over RM716 million,” he said.
Also present were MANRED Minister Dato Sri Dr Stephen Rundi Utom, MANRED Deputy Ministers Datuk Dr Abdul Rahman Ismail and Maclaine@Martin Ben, DOF Malaysia deputy director-general (Management) Wan Muhammad Aznan Abdullah, and MANRED permanent secretary Datu Edwin Abit. — DayakDaily
