By early next year, shark hunting is expected to be illegal in Sabah, says state Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Masidi Manjun.

He said his ministry was ready with the appropriate paperwork to seek a total ban on all forms of shark hunting in the state.

“Our request is simple. We are not insisting that it (the ban) should cover the whole country, but only in Sabah.

“We would like the Fisheries Act to incorporate a provision, whereby all forms of shark hunting or shark finning are prohibited in Sabah.”

He said this to reporters after witnessing all chapters of the Junior Chamber International (JCI) Malaysia commit to the ‘Say No To Shark’s Fin Soup’ awareness campaign in Kota Kinabalu today.

Masidi said his ministry had also taken into consideration the parties, such as restaurants serving shark’s fin soup, that might be affected once the ban was imposed and felt that the situation was manageable.

He said sharks were mainly found in the waters off Tawau, Semporna and Kudat and attracted divers from all over the world that earned Sabah RM192.5 million from the diving industry last year.

- Bernama