Sabah Has A Shark Finning Problem, But Here's Why It Cannot Do Much To Stop It
A dozen sharks with their fins cut off were photographed floating in a sea of blood.
By Sadho Ram — 20 Jul 2016, 02:49 PM
Malaysia has a shark problem; many species of sharks have declined as much as 90 to 95% off Malaysian Reefs in recent times, and 80% of Sabah's sharks have been wiped out in the last 30 years
Despite that Malaysia doesn't have any law against shark finning to protect its fast disappearing sharks. As it is legal to sell shark fins and shark meat in the country, countless sharks are killed and consumed, many for their fins to make shark fin soup.
A few years ago, Malaysia was ranked 9th as the world’s largest shark producer and 3rd largest importer in terms of volume by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in the United Nations report entitled State of the Global Market for Shark Products.
Still, the Malaysian Government has denied that there is a shark problem in the country.
In October last year, Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek had claimed that sharks are "accidentally caught" by fishermen "when they enter the fishnets along with the other fishes", dismissing a three-year proposal by Sabah to amend the Fisheries Act to ban shark hunting and finning in the country.
Since 2002 to 2011, Malaysia caught 231,212 tonnes of sharks, accounting for almost 3% of the global reported shark catch
As S.M. Mohd Idris, President of Sahabat Alam Malaysia writes in this NST piece titled, 'We Are Finishing Off Sharks For Their Fins', "it is the sharks that are in need of greater protection from humans" as they are an "essential part of our ecosystem."
Recently, on 16 July, horrifying photos of nearly a dozen finned sharks were seen circulating on social media platforms. The bloodied photos were allegedly taken at a village in the diving haven of Mabul, a small island off the south-eastern coast of Sabah.
After shark fins are removed, the sharks are discarded in the ocean
While sharks returned to the ocean without their fins are often still alive, they sink to the bottom of the ocean, unable to move effectively, and die of suffocation.
The recent photos of shark finning in Sabah, doing the rounds on social media, have enraged many including environmentalists and State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Masidi Manjun, who has been advocating shark protection in Sabah’s waters.
While Masidi condemned it, there's little he or authorities can do as there is currently no law banning shark finning in Sabah or Malaysia
“The photos speaks volumes of what I and many other Sabahans have been advocating for the last five years,” he said. Asked if there would be investigations based on the photos, he replied: “What difference does it make when there is no law against this despicable act?”
themalaymailonline.com
There is, however, some hope as the Sabah government has declared three marine parks as shark sanctuaries, a 'last resort' step to prevent further decline of the species in the country
Speaking to NST at his ministry's Raya open house, Manjun said, "Unless laws are enforced and the state is given more powers to deal with the issue, we will only see the unnecessary killing of sharks.
We can do the next best thing to protect our sharks, by declaring marine parks as shark sanctuaries to make it illegal to catch sharks in these parks."
There will be an announcement about our progress regarding the mechanics of establishing shark sanctuaries in the near future," he added.
According to The Malay Mail Online, the three parks to be declared shark sanctuaries are the Tun Sakaran marine park in Semporna, Tunku Abdul Rahman marine park fronting the state capital, and the proposed Tun Mustapha marine park in Kudat.