OYA: Some 90 percent or 4,592 of the total 5,103 licenced fishing vessels in Sarawak last year were traditional boats operating in Zone A.
Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Minister Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah said this was based on statistics provided by the State Marine Fisheries Department.
She added in terms of the number of registered fishermen, of the total 10,038, some 8,683 of them were locals, while 1,355 were foreigners.
“I believe you are part of the 8,683 fishermen which shows how important your role is in helping to protect our marine resources,” she said when officiating at the Interaction and handing over of licence and aids programme, which was organised by Sarawak Marine Fisheries Department at Pekan Sabtu Oya here on Saturday (Sept 25).
Fatimah said that in Sarawak the department is administering three fishery regions which comprise 16 fishery districts.
On the 5,000 fish fries released in the river here earlier on, she explained that they were to sustain and increase the number of fish and enhance the income of fishermen while preserving and conserving marine resources.
Fatimah, who is also Dalat assemblywoman, said the cost of RM20,000 to release fish fry could be due to the difficulty of obtaining the supply.
The fish species was siakap (lates calcarifer).
