KOTA KINABALU: Relevant stakeholders should contribute collective suggestions on the government's effort in developing a fisheries management plan, including on the definition of "bycatch".
WWF-Malaysia marine policy manager Shantini Guna Rajah said to date, there was no universally accepted definition for bycatch.
Based on national fisheries statistics, she said there was no category specified as bycatch, but there is a category for trash fish, including those juvenile and non-target fishes which were supposed to be the future fish stocks for the country.
"It is an umbrella term for accidental catch, non-target (marine species), but it is important to be clear on what bycatch means for area management.
"From the management perspective, if we do not define them and lump threatened species together with the juvenile, we won't be able to distinguish what is being taken out from the ocean.
"The management should be informed by science. Science will tell us how much we can take from the ocean, so that the ocean can naturally continue to produce fish and maintain the ecosystem," she said, adding that the Fisheries Department was expected to come up with a new fisheries management plan in the next couple of years.
Shantini was speaking during a panel discussion on "Out of Sight, Out of Mind" during the Sabah Shark and Ray Initiative (SSRO) showcase at Tanjung Aru Marine Ecosystem Centre here yesterday.
The one-hour discussion was also joined by Marine Research Foundation conservation officer Ho Kooi Chee, Lower Kinabatangan Segama Wetland programme coordinator Neville Yapp and Kota Kinabalu Fishing Boat Owner secretary William Chong.
On the percentage of bycatch that commercial fishermen would usually have with them, Chong said the amount could range between 15 and 30 per cent, depending on the seasons.
"'For our vessels, we never do any target fishing. Whatever nets that are up, it is pointless to have (non-target) dead fishes being thrown back to the sea, which is wastage and (might) cause pollution.
"Those bycatch such as small fishes that cannot be sold at markets will go to factories for aquaculture food, such as fertiliser for chicken and fish.
"By sending the trash fish to factories, it will be fair for fishermen as they cannot sell the trash fish at the markets, but still can do it at the factories," he said, adding that the value of bycatch was very low.
Ho said usually a trawler would have one or two sharks or rays in its net, and some of them were juvenile and critically endangered species. When one multiplied the number of catches, it would have significant consequences, he added.
"In the last two years, we have been trying to collect the locations where bycatch happened. Now we know where these sharks and rays were caught in Sabah.
"By knowing these hotspot areas, we can suggest to fisheries (authorities) and the fishing boat owners to avoid those areas to conserve these species."