Take action to stop resurging fish bombing activity, urges Sabah MCA

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah marine authorities are urged to take stern action against fish bombers after allegations that such activities are becoming rampant again.

Sabah Wanita MCA chairman Dr Pamela Yong said the Parti Warisan Sabah-led government should enlist the help of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) or the Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) to combat this.

“This can help quell unlicensed water activities and detain perpetrators, reportedly from neighbouring countries, ” she said in a statement here on Wednesday (June 24).

This follows reports of suspected fish bombing and ghost netting activities in waters of Mantanani supposedly witnessed by divers recently.

Dr Yong also urged the Sabah Fisheries Department, State Agriculture and Food Industry Minister Datuk Junz Wong and Deputy Sabah Chief Minister cum state Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Christina Liew to look into this seriously.

She said fish bombers destroy marine life and beautiful coral reefs Sabah is renowned for, thereby jeopardising the state’s tourism industry.

Besides threatening the aqua-ecosystem, these illegal activities could also lead to human fatalities or loss of limbs, if they are near the vicinity of the explosion, she said.

Citing an example, Dr Yong said two divers from China and their Malaysian diving instructor were killed in waters off Pulau Kalapuan in Semporna, believed due to fish bombing on July 5,2019.

She said the recent reports of such activities is a sign that there is an urgent need for the state to work with federal authorities and step up enforcement to protect Sabah’s underwater treasures.

She said reviving Sabah’s tourism industry, which sunk during the movement control order (MCO), is urgently required.

Dr Yong said even before the MCO, Sabah’s tourism receipts for the January-February 2020 period fell by 21.6% or RM320mil year-on-year to RM1.16bil.

Tourist arrivals to Sabah registered a 16.4% drop (both international and domestic) to 567,108 compared with 678,128 tourists in the same period last year, she said.

Endeavouring to ensure the conservation of coral reefs, marine and land life for environmentally sustainable purposes also contributes towards the continuation of Sabah being a haven for tourists, she added.