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By Karen Bong
KUCHING, July 21: The Sarawak government has been granted full power and authority to issue all permits and licenses for fishing vessels and equipment without needing approval from the Malaysia Fisheries Department.
Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas announced this following the agreement on July 18 by the Special Council on the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) to authorise the Marine Fisheries Department Sarawak to carry out matters of approving the issuance of all permits and licenses for fishing vessels and equipment in Zones A, B, and C.
“The federal government has empowered Sarawak to issue deep sea licenses but limited to C2 licenses.
“So during the meeting, we presented our case and requested full authority to issue licences for fishing and equipment for Zones A, B and C. The meeting agreed,” he told a press conference after a mass thanksgiving prayer ceremony for 60 Years of Sarawak’s Independence organised by Unit for Other Religions (Unifor) at a hotel here today.
Furthermore, the Minister for Infrastructure and Port Development pointed out that the Sarawak government has also been granted the authority to determine the demarcation between the sea waters and the inland waters of Sarawak.
“With this approval, the Sarawak government will have clarity on the boundaries between sea waters and inland waters,” he added.
This move aims to prevent overlapping areas and conflicting powers between State agencies such as Sarawak Agriculture Department, Sarawak Rivers Board and Land and Survey Department), and Federal agencies, namely the Department of Marine Fisheries Sarawak, Malaysian Fisheries Development Board, Malaysian Marine Department Sarawak Region, Marine Police, and Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency.
Deputy Premier Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian, Minister of Transport Dato Sri Lee Kim Shin, Deputy Minister of Telecommunication Datuk Liwan Lagang, and Deputy Minister of Public Health and Housing Datu Penguang Manggil were present. — DayakDaily
