Fishy tale from Borneo

The South China Sea may be too big for two local fishing associations to ‘net’-work together and find the best solution to harness its maximum fish haul.

On one side is the Persatuan Usahawan Industri Perikanan Sarawak (Ikhlas) currently operating a deep sea fishing permit at Tanjung Manis Integrated Fishing Port, while on the other corner is the Sarawak Fishermen Association (Penesa).

The former has blamed the latter for not landing any big catch and making a false declaration of their total catch at Tanjung Manis facility.

Local fishermen were unhappy with the fact that foreign deep fishing vessel and crew from Thailand had been given local permits by Ikhlas to fish in the same area.

A spokesperson said investigations started after the committee chaired by Deputy Agriculture and Agro-Based Industries Minister was formed last week.

Penesa claims that it was ready to take over the deep sea fishing from Ikhlas if the latter's fishing permit is revoked.

It said the association has about 300 deep sea fishing vessels and these should be sufficient to bring in enough catch for the integrated port.

While Ikhlas has 37 members, comprising companies related to fisheries which own 240 vessels.

So what’s the catch for the consumers? No big deal. Why? Because these people has been politicking about the issue for so long and yet no one is doing what they are supposed to do, that is to catch fish.

The only one profiteering from the bickering are the foreign fishing trawlers from Thailand, Vietnam and as far as Philippines and China, normally encroaching in or seems to be given the permits by the local fishing authority.

Each of these foreign vessels could land between 25 and 30 tonnes of fish.

Even the fishmongers in Sibu claim there was never any shortage of fish in the market.

They said that although fishermen went on strike in the past weeks, the supply of fish was sufficient to meet local demand.

One of them anonymously attributed this to the fish supply they got from the foreign fishing trawlers, notably those from China, Indonesia and Thailand.

"It has been like that for the past months and we do not foresee any problem as far as the fish supply is concerned," he added and the only difference, perhaps, is the pricing factor.