KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian consumer organization has warned that seafood could quickly become a thing of history in Malaysia if action to curb destructive fishing methods are not curtailed. The Consumer Association of Penang (CAP) said in a statement on World Ocean Day on Friday that fishing could destroy marine life population by as early as 2048 if action is not taken to end the current rate of destruction. The CAP also called on the Malaysian government to ban the export of seafood as well as deep sea fishing and other methods of fishing it deemed destructive. “Time is running out for marine lives,” said CAP president SM Mohamed Idris, speaking at a press conference to mark World Ocean Day. He also urged authorities to ban fishing during the spawning periods of marine animals and to put a stop to aquaculture activities and the clearing of coastal mangrove forests. Marine fishes supply a major source of protein to the world and the seafood industry is worth more than US$85 billion a year. Idris said the main causes of decline in fishery stocks were overfishing, trawling in fish breeding and nursery grounds and the use of inappropriate harvesting technologies. Other causes, he added, were the dumping of toxic wastes and pollutants into the sea, the destruction of coastal mangroves and wetlands, aquaculture and climate change. “The level of exploitation has been too high for many stocks, and some varieties of marine lives have disappeared or are facing extinction,” he said. Quoting research done by an international team of scientists, he said there would not be any fish or other forms of seafood left in the world in 26 years' time—or by 2048. In Malaysia, the end is fast approaching, he added. A recent CAP study carried out through random interviews with fishermen in Penang, Kedah and Perlis found that over 60 marine species had disappeared from local waters. “A fishery is considered to have collapsed if catches fall to 10 percent of historic highs,” Idris said.
