The licence issued by the DOF is only for individuals or local companies

No deep-sea fishing licence issued to foreigners, assures MOA

MALAYSIA
Thursday, July 18, 2019, 15:50 (GMT + 9)

No deep sea-fishing licence has been issued or leased out by the Fisheries Department (DOF) to foreigners, said the Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry (MOA) today.

It said the licence is only issued to local fishermen and companies.

"Since September 2017, DOF, through the Deep-Sea Permit Assessment Committee, agreed to no longer issue deep-sea fishing permit to vessels, new or used ones that are acquired from other countries,” it said in response to encroachment by foreign fishing vessels into Malaysian waters.

According to the ministry, Malaysia loses up to MYR 6 billion (USD 1.4 billion) in marine catch, including MYR 1.8 billion (US 437.9 million) from the deep seas, every year due to foreign vessels trespassing into Malaysian water to conduct fishing activities.

VMS uses hardware installed on fishing vessels called an Automatic Location Communicator (ALC), also known as a Mobile Transmitting Unit (MTU), to transmit information to communication satellites. As outlined in this Figure, the data is then relayed to Land Earth Stations (LES) managed by Mobile Communication Service Providers (MCSP) and then sent by secure landline or via secure internet protocols to Fisheries Monitoring Centers (FMCs) and RFMO Secretariats. FMCs can be managed on a national, sub-regional, or regional basis as established through either national policies or international agreements.(Source: IOTC)

It said the ministry, through DOF, was updating the Fisheries Act to ensure a more effective prosecution.

Since 2015, the fishing licence of 353 fishing vessels, including 172 deep-sea fishing vessels, had been revoked for various offences, it said, adding that the renewing of fishing licence would be made stricter with the application of the report card system.

The system will give weightage and penalties on fish landing performance, MTU-VMS equipment activity, authenticity of vessels and the number of offences committed, it said.

Source: Bernama

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