Ministry to pay RM30,000 for disposal of each seized fishing boat
KOTA KINABALU: The Malaysia Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) will work closely with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry (MAFI) on the disposal of seized illegal foreign fishing boats.
Agriculture and Food Industry Minister Datuk Junz Wong, disclosed this after meeting with the new Sabah MMEA director, Kamaruszaman bin Abu Hassan, at his office.
Under the new agreement, MAFI will now pay MMEA RM30,000 for each of the vessels to be disposed. The vessels will then be sunk and turned into artificial reefs, he said.
When contacted later, Junz said the payment would be worth it as the cost of creating an artificial reef is about RM200,000.
There will also be an open tender for the disposal of seized foreign fishing vessels, as, in the past, there was no tender because the disposal of seized vessels was done at zero cost to the government by local companies appointed by MMEA.
“MAFI and MMEA have reached a consensus to work closely together to safeguard our ocean resources. The foreign vessels would be sunk in several locations throughout the state and turned into artificial reefs,” he said.
Recommendation on the cancellation of all deep sea licenses using Vietnamese boats was also raised during the meeting.
“This would go a long way for both MAFI and MMEA to tackle and resolve the issue of Vietnamese fishing boats once and for all in Sabah,” Junz said.
Also present during the courtesy call were Assistant Trade and Industry Minister Ben Chong and Captain (Maritime) Asmawati binti Mohd Tujeri.