A Sarawak assistant minister has urged the Agriculture Ministry to withdraw all deep sea fishing licences issued to foreigners as this was hurting the livelihood of local fishermen.

Sim Kheng Hui, who is also SUPP secretary-general, said more than 100 licences were issued by the ministry and this has caused a great deal of concern and hardship to local fishermen and fish dealers.

Sim, who said this during the Kuching Fishing Kotak Associations (KKFA) Chinese New Year dinner on Sunday, obviously directed his remarks at fellow Sarawakian politician Mohd Effendi Norwawi who heads the ministry.

His remarks came amid reports, still unconfirmed, that the ministry had recently issued another 53 deep sea fishing licences via a Sibu group to mainland Chinese fishing trawlers.

Sim urged the agriculture minister to be more supportive of local fishermen, saying if the licences were not withdrawn, the future of local fishermen would be affected.

He also claimed that foreign chartered vessels should not be given licences to fish in Sarawak waters because they were exploiting the states rich resources by exporting their catch illegally to other countries.

However, the assistant minister did not elaborate on this claim.

A threat to lives

Sim said the presence of foreign fishermen was not only a threat to the livelihood of local fishermen but also to their lives.

He recounted a recent incident where Thai fishermen working on foreign trawlers allegedly fired at local fishermen when their nets got entangled.

In supporting the assistant ministers stand, KFKA advisor Tay Thian Siong said: We do not want these foreign vessels in our waters because they will create an imbalance and eventually jeopardise the livelihood of local fishermen.

TONY THIEN is malaysiakini s correspondent in Kuching.