MALACCA: The fishing industry will suffer the most from excessive reclamation and the West Malacca Fishermen’s Association does not want to see another mammoth project further depleting resources.
The association’s general manager, Kamarudin Yusoh, said its board of directors had recently come to a unanimous decision to oppose the Kuala Linggi International Port (KLIP) project.
He said this was because the fate and livelihood of fishermen along the coastline were being taken lightly, with little information on the project divulged to them.
“We have not been briefed in detail on what the project is about. We were given a vague picture and did not receive feedback on plans and whether the future of fishermen would be secure.”
He said fishermen further south of Kuala Linggi had already been affected by the reclamation exercise off the coast of Klebang, so the KLIP project would mean the industry could be forced to shrink further.
“Recently, we were invited by the consultants of the project for a meeting and were told that there would be sand dredging in the area, from Kuala Linggi until Tanjung Bidara.”
The association’s views echo that of water quality and modelling specialist Dr Zaki Zainudin, who, on Monday, questioned KLIP’s developer for launching the project, with construction slated to begin in the first quarter of next year, despite experts rejecting the detailed environmental impact assessment report tabled by the project’s consultants.
Dr Zaki, who led the team that reviewed the report, had told the New Straits Times it was rejected based on the project’s proposed location at the mouth of Sungai Linggi, which could adversely affect hydrodynamics and might cause flooding upstream.
“We have not been able to meet the developers. What we want to clarify is the future of the fishermen along the coast,” Kamarudin said.
“When we met with consultants and asked where the location would be, we did not get any explanation.
“We didn’t even get an explanation on where the sand that would be dredged, would be taken to.”
He said the fishing industry was already affected as the area fishermen operated in was shrinking with every extension to reclaimed land.
“Fishermen along the coast are being oppressed. The area we have is already small, but with the reclamation and more of such projects coming up, it looks like it will get even smaller.”