Owners of fishing trawlers in Sarawak have come together to adopt a common stand against the continued issuance or renewal of licences to companies or individuals to charter foreign-owned vessels operating in waters off the Sarawak coast.

In a demonstration today, they left about 80 local trawlers docked at two private jetties in Sibu to demand that the authorities monitor the activities of these foreign trawlers, especially from Thailand.

Fishermen operating from the various main towns like Kuching, Sibu, Miri, Bintulu and Sarikei, have become desperate in wanting the government to intervene following several incidents.

The latest occurred last week involving a local trawler and a chartered Thai deep-sea trawler, believed to be manned by armed crew, which was found to have illegally encroached into Sarawak waters.

The two vessels had apparently moved in the same direction and their nets became entangled. According to reports, the Thai trawler then turned around and rammed into the other trawler.

When the latter radioed for help, several local trawlers came to its aid and surrounded the Thai vessel. Upon seeing them, the Thai fishing crew, with life-jackets on, abandoned their vessel and jumped into the water.

They were picked up by the local fishermen and later handed over to the police.

Sources said the Thai foreign crew had standing instructions from their bosses when caught in such a situation. They were told to abandon their vessel on the pretext that it was in danger of sinking or had engine trouble.

Fear of reprisal

Now local fishermen are afraid to put out to sea for fear of reprisals because they know there are many such foreign trawlers around, especially at night, said Sibu-based fishing trawler owner Wong Jih Ooh.

"The crew of the foreign trawlers are believed to be armed, and our members fear reprisals for what has happened," he added.

He said chartered foreign trawlers operating under C2 licences are not only depriving local fishermen of their livelihood but are also an economic threat to Sarawak and Malaysia as they are depleting the country's valuable marine resources.

Wong said Barisan Nasional elected representatives would usually make a noise about it, saying they would take the matter up with the relevant authorities but eventually lack the courage to do so in Parliament or to confront the authorities about it.

According to him, the marine police also appear to be ineffective in dealing with the problem .

He claimed efforts to arrest these foreign trawlers were sometimes hampered by powerful local politicians who are behind the whole saga.

Show of solidarity

In a show of solidarity, fishing trawler operators in Kuching, Miri and Bintulu have thrown their support behind their Sibu counterparts.

The Kuching Fish Dealers Association chairperson Lim Sin Khee said it made no sense to charter foreign fishing vessels since not a single local fisherman had worked on any of them.

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Sarawak Fishing Vessels Association president Wong Hung Teng reiterated the call for scrapping the policy permitting certain companies and individuals to engage in deep sea fishing and charter foreign fishing trawlers with foreign crew on board.

Meanwhile, it is feared the local trawler operators' decision to stay on shore while waiting for the government to respond to their call to step in could result in declining catch and see prices shoot up in local markets.

The three common types of licences issued to local fishermen are Class B, C and C2. The permits for charter of foreign vessels are normally the C2 which is for deep sea fishing at least 30 nautical miles offshore.

Local fishermen have been complaining for years that foreign trawlers do not always stay within the stipulated distance.

Over the weekend, the marine police managed to catch a fleet of nine Vietnamese fishing trawlers with 115 crewmen on board within the exclusive economic zone off the Bintulu coast in central Sarawak.

TONY THIEN is malaysiakini's Sarawak-based stringer.