Malaysia adds artificial reefs to prevent fishing

Malaysia will add more artificial reefs to prevent illegal fishing that is destroying the country's marine ecosystem and affecting the livelihood of traditional fishermen.

The Director General of the Malaysian Fisheries Department, Ahamad Sabki Mahmood, said illegal fishing activities of boats in forbidden areas have spread and is a challenge for this department, especially increasingly. There are many larger ships and modern technology.

Speaking at a national workshop on research and development of artificial reefs, today, Ahamad Sabki said seafood operators with these vessels are causing great harm to marine life, no just offshore.

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They are also encroaching on areas for smaller-scale fisheries. Therefore, the arrangement of artificial reefs can protect nearshore areas which are rich in resources and marine life.

He said natural reefs cannot replicate fast enough, but releasing artificial reefs has shown success in adding reefs and coral reefs.

According to Ahamad Sabki, the continued development of artificial reefs is necessary to ensure a sustainable supply of Malaysian seafood. This will have a great benefit in maintaining the livelihoods of about 80,000 fishermen in the country and reducing fish imports.

Currently, the Malaysian Fisheries Department has placed 197 artificial reefs across the country and in the future, more than 50 reefs will need to be allocated at a cost of up to RM 25 million (about USD 8.33 million). He also said that only this year the Malaysian Fisheries Department has been revoked 10 licenses issued to offshore operators for carrying out near-shore fishing.

Artificial reefs are groups or assemblies of any substance or material dropped into the sea floor to enhance or supplement the habitat for fish and other aquatic species.

This is one of the measures to prevent and limit the near-shore fishing means to destroy ecosystems such as gill net, trawl net, fin net. There are many types of materials used to form artificial reefs such as old rubber tires, concrete components, wrecks, old cars .

However, Malaysia is currently prioritizing the use of concrete components to avoid possible harmful effects from reef-building materials.