THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 2001
Malaysia to get tough with fish bombers
KUALA LUMPUR (AP/dpa) - Malaysian authorities said they would increase penalties to curb the use of explosives to kill fish off Borneo island, which would include banishment.
This March 1999 photo shows an overview of Sipadan Island, off Malaysia's eastern state of Sabah. The Sipadan diving resort sits in waters hotly disputed by Malaysia and Indonesia. Sipadan Island is regularly named by foreign divers as one of the best diving sites in the world. AP
AP filepic shows the Gorgonian sea fan coral, shown among reefs in the Philippines, prized for its beauty, causing many specimens to be harvested. A survey on the condition of the world's coral reefs was the subject of a news conference on April 20, 2000, in Santa Monica, Calif. While some of the reefs damaged by El Nino-driven high seawater temperatures of the last few years have recovered, the long-term outlook for the world's reefs remains negative. Most threats to reefs are man-made. A recent study by a Malaysian university found that 90 per cent of Sabah's 129 coral reefs had been damaged by the explosives from fish bombing.
A recent study by the Malaysian University of Sarawak showed that 90 percent of 129 coral reefs off the coast of Sabah state had been damaged by fishermen using explosives.
State Fisheries Department Director Rayner Stuel Galid said the maximum penalties for fish bombing would be increased from a RM20,000 ($5,260) fine and two years in jail to a RM50,000 ($13,160) fine and a longer prison term, which he did not specify. Penalties were different for foreigners, who would face up to two years in jail and a fine of RM1 million ($260,000), he said.
Quoted in the New Straits Times newspaper, Rayner said despite a state ban on using explosives to fish locals were paying illegal immigrants, mainly southern Filipinos, to use explosives to kill fish - a method which stuns the fish and causes them to float to the surface - and then profiting from the harvest
The department had seized 12 (metric) tons of bombed fish in the past seven years. The state's fisheries industry is valued at RM40 million ($10.5 million) annually.
Rayner told dpa that it was difficult to convict suspected culprits because of a lack of evidence. He said his department wanted heavier penalties to be slapped against offenders, while those convicted of the offence should be placed under "restricted residence," which means their travel is curtailed and monitored by police.
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