‘Enforcement vital for totally protecting sharks and ray species’
KOTA KINABALU: The recent proposal by the Sabah government to name four types of sharks and two giant ray species as totally protected is good, but environmentalists hope it could be properly implemented and enforced.
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Malaysia conservation director Dr Henry Chan said a comprehensive measure to ensure that local communities, enforcement officials and fishermen understand and abide by the law when it comes into effect is needed.
There needs to be a stronger call for the implementation of the new regulation, he said in a statement on Monday.
Provision of education and socialising programmes for the fishing industry, local communities and enforcers in order to avoid accidental capture, consumption and trade of the listed species are also important, he said.
Dr Chan said while the proposal was good news for the conservation of the shark and ray species, its enforcement will face potential challenges.
He said the WWF foresees that key local communities who rely on sharks and rays as a source of income and protein may not fully agree to it.
The listed species could also be caught in fishing vessels such as trawlers as there is a lack of bycatch mitigation technique to avoid accidental catch in our fisheries management, he said.
The four types of sharks proposed for total protection are the great hammerhead shark (Sphyrna mokarran), smooth hammerhead shark (Sphyrna zygaena), winghead shark (Eusphyra blochii) and oceanic whitetip shark (Carcharhinus longimanus).
The two ray species are the giant oceanic manta ( Manta birostris) and reef manta ( Manta alfredi).
These species were first identified for protection in 2017 and are listed under the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
The proposal of these new listed species under the Fisheries Act 1985 reinforces our national conservation commitment in protecting threatened shark and ray species in Malaysia, Dr Chan said.
He also hoped the scalloped ham- merhead, silky shark, three species of thresher sharks and nine species of devil rays – which are listed on Appendix II of CITES – will be afforded similar protection.
The regulation currently only protects the whale shark and sawfish, and states that no person shall fish for, disturb, harass, catch, kill, take, possess, sell, buy, export or transport any of the specified endangered species except with written permission from the Director- General of Fisheries.
Dr Chan said WWF-Malaysia is committed to continue working with the government towards sustainable management and conservation of sharks in Malaysia.
Shark and ray fisheries can become sustainable through the introduction of strong management by incorporating science-based catch limits that take into account the different reproduction rate of different species and their existing conservation status, he said.