Proposal for Luconia Shoals to be gazetted as national park
MIRI: Luconia Shoals, home to rich marine life and beautiful coral reefs not found in any other places in the world, must be safeguarded and gazetted as a national park.
Sarawak Fisheries Department Region III, Miri chief, Buniyamin Kiprawi, said this during a briefing involving Persatuan Nelayan Miri, trawler owners, class A, B, C licence holders, fishing clubs and relevant government agencies here yesterday.
He added that the department and Forest Department are conducting a roadshow to meet fishermen not only from Miri, but also from Lawas, Limbang, Bintulu, Mukah and Kuching to get feedback and output from them on the best ways to preserve Luconia Shoals.
“There are varieties of marine life including big fish found there beside the coral reefs. They must be preserved to ensure that we can continue having these marine life,” Bunyamin said.
Present were Sarawak Fisheries Department deputy director Liza Long, Forest Department representative Noraini Johari and Sarawak Shell Berhad representative Mathew Leefe Musa who both served as speakers at the briefing.
According to Buniyamin, it is important to obtain feedback and inputs from fishermen and relevant parties to ensure that the process to gazette Luconia Shoals is done according to the requirement so that the proposal can be brought up to the State Cabinet later.
“This kind of engagement by the stakeholders, fishermen, fishing community and relevant agencies is to get clearer picture on how to safeguard the rich marine life we have at Luconia Shoals,” he said.
He assured that the gazetting of Luconia Shoals as a national park would not affect the livelihood of the local fishing community as there is a proposal by the government to allow local fishermen, on a flexible basis, to do fishing there considering that it is the natural habitat of marine life.
He cited the Miri- Sibuti coral reefs as an example of a place where fishermen could continue to do fishing within the surrounding areas despite it being gazetted.
He explained that the intention to gazette Luconia Shoals is not to cause hardship to fishermen, especially those with Class C licence and sport fishing clubs, as they still can do fishing there.
“This is one way for the government to take care of our resources so that in years to come we can still have fish,” he said.
At the same time, he called on the fishermen not to use destructive fishing methods such as fish bombs which drastically decrease the marine life population.
He also reminded fishermen not to do fishing within 500 metres from oil rigs and platforms.
More than 70 fishermen and representatives of relevant agencies attended the halfday briefing conducted by the Fisheries Department and Forest Department.
There are varieties of marine life including big fish found there beside the coral reefs. They must be preserved to ensure that we can continue having these marine life. Buniyamin Kiprawi, Sarawak Fisheries Department Region III, Miri chief