Monitoring fishermen at sea

KUALA TERENGGANU: The installation of the Automated Identification System (AIS) on Zone B and C fishing vessels will be implemented starting from Jan 1 next year.

Fisheries Department Deputy director-general (Development) Zulkafli Abd Rashid said the installation of AIS was to identify, prevent local fishing vessels from straying into international waters as well as to ensure all catches were not illegally landed in other countries.

“The installation of AIS is the best method to prevent Zone B and C vessels from invading the territory of Zone A vessels and also straying into international waters.

“This will also allow us to identify if our Malaysian vessels were unloading their catch in a neighbouring country,” he said after officiating the Fisheries Department’s Senior Officers Conference in Chendering here.

Zulkafli added that the country saw a decline of more than one million metric tonnes of catch last year.

He said a total of RM17mil has been allocated to buy the system and to build receivers.

“We have also distributed some 2,000 units of the AIS, worth RM4,000 each, to Zone B vessels while Zone C fishing vessel operators will have to buy it themselves.

“With the installation of the AIS, the safety of these fishermen can be monitored by our unit in Putrajaya,” he said.

Meanwhile, on the subject of the pukat pari, he said despite the ban since 1980, it was still widely being used, with 43 of these illegal nets seized over the last five months in Terengganu.

The illegal nets, with a mesh size of 25cm and above, was seen as one of the reasons the state recorded 122 turtles deaths in the last 17 months.

This may well jeopardise the efforts to protect turtles in Terengganu, if the authorities concerned do not step up efforts to curb the activities of errant fishermen who use these illegal nets to catch stingrays.

Zulkafli said the department is aware of the problem.

“Our stand is simple. The usage of pukat pari is illegal. We will not compromise on such issues and will take stern action against these errant fishermen.

“This year, from January to May, we have seized 43 pukat pari while for last year, we seized 63.

“Apart from stern action, from time to time we will also engage with all fishermen and remind them of their responsibilities and the consequences of breaking the law. Stringent checks will also be carried out at identified areas,” he said.

Recently it was highlighted that most of the turtle deaths in the state were due to these nets.

The pukat pari usually measures 18m by 18m, and are used to catch stingray as well as trap turtles as the animals come up to nest.

Zulkafli said apart from seizing the pukat pari, the department has embarked on certain projects to save these turtles from sticking on to trawler nets, including having fishermen instal the Turtle Excluder Device (TED) which allows a captured sea turtle to escape when caught in a fisherman’s net.

“We have also embarked on a pilot project involving 10 fishermen who will have LED lights fixed to their nets.

“This will help sea turtles to stay away when they see the light,” he said.