Consider plight of fisherfolk

WE read with great interest the recent media reports on how off-shore sand mining and reclamation have negatively impacted on the livelihood of thousands of coastal fishermen. It was also reported that destruction of mangrove forests and encroachment of foreign fishermen have damaged marine habitats and further exacerbated these local fishermen’s already tenuous existence.

While we welcome the statement made by Muhammad Faiz Fadzil, chairman of the Fisheries Development Authority of Malaysia (LKIM), highlighting sand mining activities and their destructive consequences, we would also like to point out that coastal land reclamation activities have had similarly deleterious, if not worse, impacts on Malaysia’s marine habitat.