Fighting for Malaysia's fish: Game of cat and mouse on the high seas

Officers from the MV Pekan (right) preparing to board a foreign fishing boat in Malaysian waters in July 2021. — Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency

Robust criminal networks are hampering efforts to curb illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing that is not only costing Malaysia billions but also threatening our food supply and the ocean’s ecosystem.

You can expect your steamed fish and butter prawns to become more expensive what with almost 1 million tonnes of seafood being siphoned out of our waters each year.

Malaysia – and our neighbours – has been facing this problem for decades but lately its consequences are becoming more and more dire. Local players in the fishing industry are claiming that Malaysia’s sea resources have dwindled so badly that going out to sea now barely covers costs (“Malaysia’s coastal fisher folk are losing their livelihoods as fish stocks decline”, StarLifestyle, Aug 24).

Official statistics show that in 2016 alone, Malaysia lost RM6bil to IUU fishing. Although stepped up enforcement since then has helped reduce that amount to about RM4bil in subsequent years, the problem is far from abating.

What fuels IIU fishing?

Take a look out across the South China Sea and you will likely see fishing boats huddled together, perhaps around a cargo ship. There is likely a transshipment process going on between these boats and the “mothership”.

Malaysian fisherman Mohd Zulhimi Azlan, 32, claims they are probably Vietnamese vessels. But he has no proof of nationality or even of transshipment because whenever he approaches such groupings when he sees them, the transfer of shipments stops immediately.

“These Vietnamese fishermen have been around for a long time, but in recent years they have motherships to ferry back fish stolen from our waters to their ports so they can steal even more,” he says, adding that numerous reports have been lodged with the authorities.

Transshipment allows fishing operators to circumvent port control and “launder” fish (just as illegal money is laundered through banks) by mixing legally and illegally sourced sea produce, before putting them on the market. Malaysia outlaws transshipments to safeguard our marine resources.

In a written reply to our emailed questions, Malaysian Armed Forces Chief Gen Tan Sri Affendi Buang – who is also chair of the national task force on illegal immigrants and territorial encroachments – says the problem is monumental as massive international syndicates with strong support networks are behind IUU fishing activities in Malaysian waters.

Revealing their modus operandi, Gen Affendi says these syndicates would, among other methods, use tankers anchored in international waters with illicitly sourced diesel to refuel vessels carrying out IUU fishing activities in local waters.

“These syndicates have an extensive land and sea nexus that they effectively utilise for these elements.

“IUU fishing by foreign fishing boats from Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam are a prevalent threat to our national interest, and this must be addressed collectively by enforcement agencies,” he says.

According to the general, these networks use the same channels to smuggle contraband as well as for human trafficking.

For the past 18 months, the national task force he chairs has been coordinating an interagency response through the timely sharing of actionable information and a streamlined jurisdictional presence.

The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency’s (MMEA) findings on the illicit fishing trade are similar to the military’s.

The issue comes under the agency’s Maritime Crime Investigation Division and its deputy director 1, Capt Ahmad Faridi Ferdaus, reveals in an interview at his office in Putrajaya that the agency’s intel also suggests syndicates in Thailand have a hand in providing fuel to both the motherships and fishing vessels.

“So even though they don’t steal our fish, they facilitate these illicit operations,” he points out.

In 2015, Thailand was issued a “yellow card” by the European Commission for its lack of progress in tackling IUU fishing.

Recent intel also suggests that Thailand may not be the only illegal fuel supplier, as tankers registered in a few other countries, including Japan, are also involved.

Capt Ahmad Faridi says previous seizures and arrests also raised concerns about the possibility of human exploitation, evident in a case where the search of a vessel uncovered what could be human trafficking: Eight Vietnamese men were found hiding in the engine room.

“We believe that there is a possibility of human trafficking or the smuggling of forced labour going on. This is something that we are still investigating,” the captain says, adding that the men could also have been awaiting a shift change during which they would be picked up by a mothership.

The concern is that foreign syndicates are using Malaysian waters to exploit forced labour, something that Thailand has been cited for in the past in cases involving men from Laos and Myanmar.

“We have seen this happen in the South China Sea, and we don’t want Malaysia to be dragged into human trafficking or forced labour issues,” Capt Ahmad Faridi says.

The MMEA has previously reported seizing motherships with cash amounting to millions of ringgit on hand. The money was in various currencies, including US, Brunei and Singapore dollars as well as Thai baht.

Transaction receipts found on some of these motherships also revealed that payment would only be made once the fishing boats were back in their home country.

Keeping pirates away

Fisheries Department director-general Ahmad Tarmidzi Ramly says the waters around Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines have become targets of foreign fishermen driven by the lucrative nature of the illegal fishing business.

“They cross borders because they have exhausted their own resources,” he says, adding that 80% of about 200 foreign fishermen arrested in 2019 and the 100 over in 2020 were Vietnamese.

The MMEA says over the last two years, it has arrested some 1,600 Vietnamese fishermen who encroached into Malaysian waters for IUU fishing activities.

Information from local fishermen indicates these foreigners would pay some RM30,000 a month for each Malaysian-registered fishing vessel so they can carry out their illicit activities under the authorities’ radar.

We ask Vietnam’s ambassador to Malaysia, Dr Tran Viet Thai, what measures his country is taking to rein in its wayward fishermen, and his emailed reply says it is a regional issue but that proactive measures are being put in place.

These include controlling foreign ships making port calls in Vietnam to import fishery resources, reducing the country’s domestic fleet of fishing vessels, and installing VMS (vessel monitoring system using global positioning equipment) on long-range fishing ships.

“Vietnam has also stepped up its programme to train fishermen on various issues like national boundaries, regulations on fisheries and penalties and environmental issues,” he says.

The diplomat points out that overlapping maritime boundaries are a challenge when it comes to addressing the IUU issue.

From what we have learned, however, the modus operandi of Vietnamese fishermen is to use vessels registered in countries other than their own.

In the most recent case, in July, a mothership registered in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, was intercepted by Malaysian maritime enforcers in waters just off Terengganu, laden with four tonnes of stolen fresh squid. Subsequent investigations revealed that the owners of the ship – which was operated by a crew of 12 Vietnamese men – were, in fact, awaiting the lucrative catch of the day in Vietnam.

When asked about this case, Dr Tran says he cannot confirm if the vessel is Vietnamese.

What drives illegal fishers?

Freelance Vietnamese journalist Vo Kieu Bao Uyen spoke to a couple of fishermen who admit to entering Malaysian and Indonesian waters.

One man who wants to be known only as Tinh, 34, says: “The captain knew he was breaking the law, but he still did it because there’s more fish there.

“The fishing grounds around Vietnam are all exhausted. We only get two-thirds or even half of what we would get from Malaysian and Indonesian waters.”

A fishing boat captain who only wishes to be known as Duy adds that Vietnamese fishers can no longer fish around the Paracel and Spratly Islands off Vietnam’s east coast because they are chased away by the Chinese coast guard.

“They [the islands] are in our country’s waters but the Chinese coast guard often catches and even shoots at fishermen. We can’t be productive when we must spend so much time defending ourselves from these attacks or trying to avoid them.

“Vietnamese fishermen are often mobilised by the government to go to the Paracels and Spratlys to fish and ensure the sovereignty of the country,” says Duy.

This is reportedly because Chinese fishermen also congregate in the area supposedly to help exert China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea.

“But what if our boats are damaged by the Chinese? We don’t get much financial support from the state to repair our boats.

“Moreover, the fishing grounds there are not as abundant anymore. Chinese fishing boats wiped out the fish,” he claims.

Where does the catch land?

Capt Ahmad Faridi says there’s a good chance that the illicit hauls by Vietnamese fishermen do not even end up in Vietnam.

“We have reason to believe that a lot of these shipments end up in locations with better facilities to deal with illicit landings, such as Thailand.

“We also believe these catches are then ‘cleaned’ by mixing them with legal landings so that they meet export requirements, including from the European Union (EU),” the captain explains.

The EU, the world’s largest importer of fisheries’ products, estimates that between 11 and 26 million tonnes of fish are caught illegally a year, and this accounts for at least 15% of the world’s catches.

The executive branch of the EU, the European Commission, in its email response to The Star, says that since 2010, it has been enforcing regulations to prevent, deter and eliminate IUU fishing activities; this includes states having to certify the origin and legality of fish traded in the EU.

The commission says only marine products accompanied by catch certificates that tick all the correct boxes can be imported into the EU. This certifies that the catches were made according to applicable laws, regulations and international fisheries conservation and management measures.

The commission’s spokesperson says, to date, 93 third countries (ie non-EU states) have notified the commission that they have in place the necessary legal instruments, procedures and administrative structures to certify catches made by vessels flying their flags.

Countries that refuse to cooperate in the fight against IUU fishing are issued a warning, a yellow card, and if no efforts at mitigation are made, they are then given a red card, which amounts to a total ban from the EU market.

“When the commission has evidence that a third country does not cooperate fully in the fight against IUU fishing, it will issue a yellow card.

“In this pre-identification step, the commission warns the country of the risk of being identified as a non-cooperating country.

“The yellow card starts a formal dialogue where both sides work together to solve all issues of concern. In most cases, this dialogue is productive and the pre-identification can be removed (ie, the country is given a green card).

“Otherwise the commission will identify the third country as non- cooperating and red-carded, and it will subsequently be banned from exporting to the EU market,” the commission says.

Vietnam received a yellow card in 2017 and it has put a dent in the country’s export of fishery products. According to the ambassador, Vietnam is taking the necessary steps to combat IUU fishing and is determined to completely eliminate such activities by its fishermen by 2022 so that the yellow card warning can be lifted.

Uphill battle for enforcers

Capt Hamiludin says that in many cases there is nothing he and his men can do as illegal fishing vessels are quick to move out of their jurisdiction and into international waters. — Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency

On the deck of the patrol ship MV Pekan are at least 30 MMEA men.

Their eyes are fixed on the horizon where some 90 vessels are lined up. Some of these foreign boats retreated into international waters just in time before the enforcers caught up with them.

It is always a game of cat-and-mouse during operations to curb encroachment by foreign fishermen; the operation that The Star’s investigative team R.AGE observed in March was called Op Kuda Laut and was launched in June 2020.

Onboard the coast guard vessel, commanding officer Capt Hamiludin Che Awang cuts a frustrated figure. He is well aware that there’s nothing much he can do when vessels retreat to international waters.

After waiting about two days, the Pekan is forced to move along and continue patrolling waters off the coasts of Pahang, Terengganu and Kelantan.

“Just yesterday we saw two Vietnamese fishing vessels in our waters but as we came close, they made a dash for their territory.

“I know that as soon as we leave the area, they will re-enter our waters,” Capt Hamiludin says.

The officer says foreign fishing vessels usually have tontos (informers) on their payroll who alert the captains to where enforcement authorities are patrolling so they can evade arrest.

The challenge is real for these men protecting our borders from fish thieves.

The MV Pekan has three dive boats that can be scrambled to pursue fleeing vessels. Sadly, all are almost non-operational. We saw firsthand how the last surviving speed boat bearing six men in full gear stalled at sea during an enforcement operation. It was their “target”, which thankfully turned out to be a non-threat, that towed them back to the Pekan safely.

“This ship is in dire need of maintenance,” the captain says.

“Our biggest challenge is stopping fleeing suspicious vessels that have encroached into our territorial waters as we are forced to rely solely on the slower main vessel. This also puts our ship at great risk of being hit and damaged at sea.

“The dive boats, which come with safety fenders, would serve us better in high-speed pursuits,” says Capt Hamiludin, adding that they need a designated port to allow the ship to be docked for thorough maintenance.

As if catching those illegally transferring our fish at sea isn’t hard enough, Capt Ahmad Faridi says unless vessels are caught in action, proving a case in the courts is not easy.

“The transfer process usually takes place at night to make it hard to see, so unless we know the exact location, it is very difficult for us to storm in.

“We also have to prove that they stole our fish and for this we need to catch them redhanded. The chances of that happening are very slim.

“We seized a cargo vessel recently [in July] and we are fortunate to be able to charge the operators because we found tools they used to catch squid, that we also found on the vessel. Otherwise, we would have to settle for charging them with smaller offences such as not having insurance, which is only a fine,” Capt Ahmad Faridi explains.

What’s next?

In better protecting our territorial waters from encroachment and IUU fishing, the Fisheries Department’s Tarmidzi says Malaysia is currently reviewing the Fisheries Act 1985 to increase fines and jail terms in hopes of effectively deterring illegal fishermen.

“The existing punishments seem to be ineffective, as they don’t seem to mind serving short jail terms, paying a fine, and then continuing their illegal activities,” he says.

In 2019, the department had, in fact, amended the Fisheries Act to increase the fine from RM1mil to RM6mil for convicted tekong (captains), and RM600,000 or a maximum of two years in prison, or both, for crew members. But this is still deemed inadequate due to the huge sums of money involved in this lucrative illegal business.

MMEA director-general Admiral Datuk Mohd Zubil Mat Som says in an interview at his Putrajaya office that the agency is looking at acquiring four multipurpose mission ships to increase patrols and visibility at the country’s borders to prevent encroachment by foreign vessels.

The multipurpose ships, he says, will be equipped with at least four fast interceptors and two unman-ned aerial vehicles that can be deployed to cover large areas while providing visual feeds to the vessel.

The government, he says, has approved one such ship this year and the agency is planning to request three more next year.

“The multipurpose mission ship will remain at sea for as long as it needs to, to deter foreign vessels from coming into our waters. We need to be stationed there to protect our territories better. They [encroa-chers] will think twice before sneaking into our maritime borders,” he says.

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This story was produced by The Star’s investigative team R.AGE under Oceans Inc, a crossborder investigative project by the Environmental Reporting Collective on illegal, unregulated, and unreported (IUU) fishing. Read the full investigation into regional fisheries at www.oceansinc.earth.