Dodge the trash: Hikers greeted by unsightly rubbish in Pulau Jerejak.
GEORGE TOWN: It was once known as ‘the Alcatraz of Malaysia’ as it housed a maximum security prison, but after the Jerejak Rehabilitation Centre was closed in 1993, there were plans to develop Pulau Jerejak into a resort.
However, the discovery of an illegal dumpsite on the far side of Pulau Jerejak has more in common with its unsavoury past rather than a bright future.
Hikers who made the find were bitten by hundreds of mosquitoes as they trudged past the dumpsite because it was obviously a mosquito breeding site.
Among the piles of rubbish, they saw hundreds of empty fish feed sacks and discarded fish cage nets, showing that this was evidently the dumping ground for several floating fish farms.
“Totally disappointed,” were the words of hiker Ang Kee Sim, 57.
“There were 30 of us, some from Kuala Lumpur. We had never hiked in Pulau Jerejak and were so excited.
“When we found a beach on the eastern side, we saw trash everywhere – mostly thickly woven fish nets and plastic sacks printed with fish feed labels,” said the financial controller who works for a Kuala Lumpur firm.
Ang said judging from the amount of trash they had to walk through across the 50m stretch, the dumping had been going on for some time.
Another hiker in the group, Krystal Khaw, 34, said the “best memories” she carried out of Pulau Jerejak were the hundreds of mosquitoes that assailed her and her friends.
“I smacked a few and was horrified to see that they had the black and white bands of the Aedes mosquito.
“I sprayed mosquito repellent on my body and they started biting my face and ears,” she said.
When Khaw reached the dumpsite, she said she understood why Pulau Jerejak had so many Aedes mosquitoes.
It was previously reported that Universiti Sains Malaysia medical entomologist Assoc Prof Dr Nur Faeza Abu Kassim had explained that Aedes preferred clear to cloudy water to lay their eggs.
“Rather than depositing their eggs into the water, the Aedes mosquito sticks the eggs onto a container’s surface. The eggs can last a year. When there is water in the container, the eggs can hatch,” she added.
Penang environment committee chairman Phee Boon Poh said the state government was aware that a corner of Pulau Jerejak was being used as an illegal dumping ground by some fish farms.
“They can’t do open burning, so they discard their rubbish somewhere else.
“The district office and Penang Island City Council (MBPP) has met to look into a solution, including finding an alternative site for the fish farm waste,” said Phee.
In the meantime, he said the Fisheries Department would try and find a solution and provide assistance for a planned clean-up.
State Fisheries Department director Zarina Zainuddin said her enforcement officers were also aware of the dumpsite.
“The fish farms were advised time and again not to dump their rubbish but to no avail,” she said.
On fines and other action that could be taken, Zarina said that this came under the purview of MBPP and the Environment Department.
But Tioh Tiang Lai, a fish farmer in Nibong Tebal, expressed confusion after seeing pictures of the dumpsite.
“We end up with a lot of fish feed sacks because we feed fish daily, and collectors come to buy the sacks for 30sen each.
“Chicken and other livestock farmers like to use these sacks to pack fresh dung to be sold to organic fertiliser makers.
“As for our torn fish cage nets, durian farmers are always looking to buy them to string up in their orchards to catch falling durian as the nets are hardy.
“I don’t understand why the farmers dump them in Pulau Jerejak when they have resale value,” he said, believing that only some of the floating fish farms engage in this practice.
Penang has the highest number of floating fish farms along the Straits of Malacca.
While there are about 150 of them off the coast of Nibong Tebal, near the Penang-Perak border, there are about 20 more off the coast of Pulau Jerejak, Pulau Aman and also Teluk Bahang.
