Dept Will Give More Info About Them
By Halijah Mat Sin
THE Department of Fisheries refers to the letters by Dr Dinoysius S.K. Sharma of WWF-Malaysia (“Educate fishermen on unusual catches” – NST, Dec 7) and by Yoeh Chee Weng (“Treat their visits as a rare honour” – NST, Dec 14) on the capture and sale of the giant whale shark in Sungai Tiang, Bagan Datoh, recently.
We would like to assure them and the public that we share their concern about the accidental capture of this endangered species by fishermen.
Under the Fisheries Act 1985, there is a provision in the Fisheries (Control of Endangered Species of Fish) Regulations 1999 to prohibit the capture, killing, possession, sale or buying of endangered species without the written permission of the director- general of fisheries.
If any endangered species is accidently captured alive during fishing operations, it should be released. If it is dead, it should be reported to a fisheries officer and the carcass shall be disposed of in accordance with his directions.
Any person who contravenes the regulations can be fined up to RM20,000, or jailed for up to two years, or both.
In this particular case, we have carried out investigations and are considering action.
Whale sharks live in warm waters near the equator, along the coast, in the open seas and are a migratory species. We have carried out awareness campaigns to educate fishermen on endangered species including the giant whale shark but we admit more effort is needed as fishermen often claim they are not aware of the regulations.
The department tends to focus more on turtles and dugongs in our awareness campaigns as their occurrence in our waters is more frequent compared with whale sharks. Nonetheless, we will intensify our awareness campaigns on endangered species, especially whale sharks, next year.
In fact, in our conservation efforts, we have included other groups of endangered species under the regulations: dugong, whales, dolphins and giant clams. We welcome companies who wish to contribute and collaborate with us in the conservation programme for endangered species.
HALIJAH MAT SIN
for Department of Fisheries
Malaysia
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