Shark protection: Why Putrajaya must back Sabah

What more can the Sabah Government do to make it clear that it intends to protect sharks in its waters?

In 2012, Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Masidi Manjun proposed an amendment to the Fisheries Act to enable a ban on the hunting and finning of sharks. Last year, Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek said this was unnecessary, claiming that a shark hunting and finning industry did not exist in Malaysia.

In July, pictures of shark finning said to have taken place in Sabah’s Mabul island went viral. This was followed by pictures from tourists of a boat ferrying dead sharks near Mabul. This renewed calls for changes to the Fisheries Act, but again, hopes were dashed. Shabery reiterated that the Fisheries Act would not be amended, although he said the state government was free to introduce laws to ban shark hunting and finning.

“It’s not to say I don’t love sharks,” Shabery was recently quoted as saying. “If you want to do total banning, it has to fit international standards.”

Did we hear that right? Is Shabery no longer saying that an amendment is unnecessary because there’s no shark hunting and finning in Malaysia?

Masidi has explained that without amendments to the Fisheries Act, any state law may be ineffective as federal laws were supreme.

It must be very frustrating to be in Masidi’s shoes. Here you have a state minister trying his very best to do good, but not getting support from the federal minister.

It is good that the Sabah state government is taking proactive measures to protect sharks. In the bigger scheme of things, sharks play an important role in the marine ecosystem.

It is simply illogical for Shabery and his ministry to withhold support for the state government’s efforts, which will only bring good.

From a political perspective, BN should be wary that Shabery’s denial of support for the Sabah government is sending contradicting signals of Putrajaya’s promises to empower the East Malaysian states.

If the BN wants Sabahans and Sarawakians to believe that it has their best interests at heart, it should pay more attention to what the Borneo leaders are saying.

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