Foreigners’ tactics not new to Kuantan fishermen
KUANTAN: The tactics deployed by foreign fishermen to encroach on Malaysian waters to conduct fishing activities are nothing strange to the fishermen here.
Their modus operandi include using fake registration numbers, flying the Jalur Gemilang, using prohibited methods and inflicting damage on fish lures set up by local fishermen. There were incidents in the past when Vietnamese fishermen fired gunshots at random out at sea.
Kuantan Fishermen Association chairman Tuan Sulong Tuan Jusoh said despite extensive and continuous enforcement operations at sea, nothing seemed to deter the foreigners, especially those from Myanmar and Vietnam.
He said foreigners hired to work on local-registered fishing vessels had become a menace by openly violating the fishing rules.
He urged the authorities to adopt Indonesia’s approach by sinking or blowing up illegal fishing boats caught by them.
“Indonesia’s move has left many illegal fishermen and boat owners who abused their licences in fear.
“These foreign crew members are a serious threat to the livelihood of local fishermen (here). Although some of them get arrested, they do not repent. In fact, more come (to encroach into Malaysian waters). It has become serious and there are many illegal boats out there at sea.
“The foreigners are willing to do anything as long as they can fish in our waters and it’s the local boat owners who are to blame.
“They lease their vessels to foreigners, who employ non-Malaysians and sell their fish to their countries, instead of landing their catch here,” he said yesterday.
Sulong said there were fishermen who were equipped with firearms, but threw them into the sea when approached by enforcement agencies.
Citing an example, he said several years ago, local fishermen were threatened by their firearm-wielding Vietnamese counterparts while in Malaysia’s territorial waters.
He said the foreign fishermen had fired several gunshots after being ticked off by local fishermen for the former damaging the latter’s fish lures, which comprised coconut fronds.
Meanwhile, a state Fishermen Association spokesman said foreign fishermen were becoming fearless and every time after an enforcement operation, they would lie low before returning to their old habits.
“Hundreds had been arrested, sentenced to prison and slapped with hefty fines, but nothing seems to deter them. The move by local trawler owners of leasing licences to them has been the biggest mistake.”
He said foreign fishermen were also responsible for the theft of scrap metal from British shipwrecks off Pulau Tioman, Rompin.