Licence to kill
KUCHING: The Forest Department will issue licences to hunt crocodiles and sell their meat and by products in a bid to control their population in the wild.
Deputy Controller of Wildlife of the Forest Department Engkamat Lading who revealed this The Borneo Post yesterday said the department has received at least 45 applications for the licences.
“We are finalising the issuance of licences to the applicants and hopefully by next month, we will be able to issue the licences to assist us in the management of crocodiles in the wild,” Engkamat told The Borneo Post here yesterday.
He revealed that applicants have to apply separate licences for hunting and selling their meat to ensure that there is proper management of the replies in the wild.
“It's going to be a very stringent exercise because we want to manage our crocodiles in a sustainable manner. So we have to observe certain quotas for various sizes of crocodiles, either for sale as meat, or lives ones for crocodile farms which we are going to introduce soon,” he said.
Engkamat reiterated that those who intended to sell crocodile meat and skin overseas need to apply for Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species in Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) licences.
“As for domestic needs, there is no need for CITES' licence as we have our on Wildlife Ordinance as guidelines,” he explained.
Among the 55 rivers with high crocodile population are Batang Lupar and its tributaries, Batang Saribas and its tributaries, Batang Samarahan and its tributaries and Sungai Santubong and its tributaries.
Meanwhile, Sarawak Forestry Corporation's (SFC) deputy general manager (Protected Areas and Biodiversity Conservation Division) Oswald Braken Tisen said his agency is now providing awareness to the people on how to manage crocodiles as resources for the state.
“We are also promoting and encouraging people to start crocodile farms for various needs including for eco-tourism, meat, skins as well for export,” he said.
Since crocodiles have been downgrade from CITES' Appendix I to Appendix II in October last year, there is a lot on interest the management of crocodile population due to many cases of human-crocodile conflicts.
Sarawak's over one decade of struggle to address the increasing crocodiles attack on humans finally paid off when the (CITES) has agreed to down listing wild crocodiles in Sarawak from Appendix I to Appendix II.
The down listing of crocodiles from Appendix I to Appendix II would now meant that the State would be able to manage crocodiles in the wild to be better managed because prior to this, although the state has its own Wildlife Protection Act enacted in 1990 to protect the animals from getting extinct, under the Appendix I, Sarawak is not allowed to sell the products of culled animals especially its meat and skin to overseas' markets as any international trade transaction is governed by CITES.
And as a signatory of CITES, the state, therefore, has to seek its approval in order to downgrade the present status. There are 197 countries who are members of CITES.