Trawlers sunk to make reefs

THE Fisheries Department is sinking used trawlers, bought from fishermen for between RM10,000 and RM100,000 each, to create artificial reefs in waters off two islands in Kedah.

Besides creating breeding grounds for fishes, department director-general Datuk Junaidi Che Ayub said that the sinking of trawlers also helped to reduce the number of trawlers along the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia.

Yesterday, the department sank 26 trawlers that it took delivery of earlier in the day from fishermen in Kuala Kedah.

It sank 14 in March and 40 last year. All the trawlers were sunk in waters off Pulau Payar and Pulau Bunting.

Speaking to reporters after taking delivery of the 26 trawlers in Kuala Kedah, he said the government had allocated RM8mil for the programme known as ‘Trawler Exit Plan’ under the Ninth Malaysia Plan.

“It is a voluntary programme but for those who participate we will help them if they want to get involved in deep sea fishing, including providing matching grants for them to buy bigger deep-sea vessels,” he said.

He said the ministry planned to reduce the 2,599 trawlers now operating along the west coast.

“Trawlers that fish within 12 nautical miles offshore bring back low quality fish,” he said.

He said 60% of the 1.21 million metric tonnes of fish landed in the country were of low quality sizes.

He said the ministry hoped to reduce the fish landed to 900,000 metric tonnes by 2010 to allow the fishes to grow.