KUALA LUMPUR: Despite grave concerns about overfishing in the country, the government has promised to look into unfreezing some 16,000 fishing vessel licences.

Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Datuk Mustapa Mohamed promised fishermen at the annual meeting of the National Fishermen's Association (Nekmat) yesterday that he would look into the matter.

The licences had been frozen since 1982 to protect the country's fishery resources and industry.

The unfreezing of the licences came as a surprise as the Fisheries Department had expressed concern about the issue of overfishing last year.

Its director-general, Datuk Junaidi Che Ayub, was quoted, in an interview with the New Straits Times in May last year, as saying that he wanted to keep the number of people in the fishing industry under control, by being strict about the number of licences issued.
He said the department might also introduce seasonal fishing to curb overfishing.

In 2006, coastal fishermen harvested 1.4 million tonnes, when they should only harvest 900,000 tonnes.

More than 80 per cent of fish landed in Malaysia come from coastal areas.

Nekmat general manager Norizaman Ghazali said the government's promise to look into the issue of frozen licences was related to complaints from fishermen who owned vessels but could not register them.

"There are vessels that operate without licences and, besides, the issuing of new licences is long overdue."

There are 38,000 registered vessels in the country. Fishermen whose vessels are not registered are not entitled to the e-diesel cards which allow them to buy subsidised diesel.

On another matter, Mustapa said the government was extending the closing date for fishermen to apply for the fishermen's registration card which allows them to claim RM200 monthly allowance up to Oct 31.

Some 70,000 fishermen are registered with the Malaysian Fisheries Development Authority but less than a quarter have applied for the registration card which is valid for five years.

The allowance is meant to help fishermen deal with the rising cost of living.