A few hundred fishing boats remain tied to jetties all over Sarawak as local fishermen fear for their safety because of the presence of foreign-owned charter trawlers with their well-armed foreign crew in waters off the Borneo coast.

Many local fishermen, according to a spokesperson for the Sarawak Fishing Boats Association (SFBA), are still not convinced the authorities will be able to protect them if foreign trawlers were to appear within the same fishing grounds.

He said it is very well for politicians to be advising fishermen who have stopped going out to sea since last week after a recent incident, to do so. However, they are not convinced at all that the marine police will always be around to offer protection.

A government minister was quoted as saying the fishermen would be "killing themselves in the end" if they refuse to go out to sea.

"But they (the politicians) should know how they all feel when they still fear for their safety after the recent incident between a Thai trawler and a local fishing boat off Tanjung Sirik, Sarikei.

"Their fear worsened with rumours that Thai companies involved in deepsea fishing off Sarawak waters have dispatched five large steel boats to protect their trawlers with orders to ram any hostile local boat," he said.

Last week, about 80 fishing boats all returned to base in Sibu and berthed at two private jetties after the incident during which the Thai trawler was reported to have sunk after a collision and its crew picked up and handed over to the police.

Words spread that the angry Thai fishermen were seeking a revenge and this frightened local fishermen who decided after a meeting of the Sarawak Fishing Boats Association in Sibu to remain in port until the authorities concerned could assure them of their safety.

Kuching Fishing Boat Association president Tan Boon Ting told malaysiakini he appreciated what visiting Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Minister MuhyiddinYassin is trying to do to help.

A year to resolve problem

The minister told reporters in Kuching on Tuesday that his ministry is aware of the fishermen's predicament which he said was related with the licences issued to local companies or individuals who are chartered foreign trawlers.

He promised to address the issue, but added that time was required as the ministry could not abruptly terminate the operations of foreign-owned charter trawlers.

Commenting on the minister's statement, Tan said the association was prepared to give the ministry a year to try and sort out the problems regarding the presence of foreign-owned trawler operators.

But he advised that the ministry should not try to drag its feet, pointing out the situation in Terengganu and Kelantan in the past when Thai trawlers were allowed to operate there.

"In three years the resources were so badly depleted that we are left to regret it today," he said.

We don't want the same thing to happen to us in Sarawak, Tan added.

Local fishermen's associations have also taken their grievances to Kuala Lumpur through their counterparts in Peninsular Malaysia. At a meeting in Petaling Jaya last week, they decided to send a memorandum to the government through MCA president and Housing and Local Government Minister Ong Ka Ting.

The two main issues that will be highlighted in the memorandum are the diesel price problem and the encroachment of foreign trawlers into Malaysian waters, especially Sarawak. In the peninsula, fishermen also face piracy problems, especially in the Straits of Malacca.

TONY THIEN is malaysiakini 's Sarawak-based stringer.