Malaysian Fishermen Face Murky Future as Ban on Trawling Looms

Set to take effect from 2030, the regulation in Zone B of the country's waters is aimed at reversing the effects of overfishing and giving marine habitats and fish populations a fighting chance to regenerate. It could affect dining options in Singapore, where the top three sources of seafood include Malaysia.

- Lu Wei Hoong

As the first customers of the day stream into a supermarket in Singapore, the seafood section bustles with activity. A spread of freshly caught fish and shellfish glistens on crushed ice - plump pomfret, gleaming squid and glossy red prawns, delivered just hours earlier from across the Causeway.

The faint scent of the sea mingles with the cool air as shoppers examine the day's catch and make their picks, which are then cleaned, trimmed and portioned as requested.

But in five years, the daily bounty of ocean-floor catches from nearby waters - pomfret, threadfin and prawns - will dwindle when Malaysia's ban on trawling kicks in.

Trawlers will no longer be allowed to operate in Zone B, which includes waters five to 12 nautical miles from the shoreline, to reverse the effects of overfishing and give marine habitats and fish populations a fighting chance to regenerate.

The looming ban on bottom trawling is the latest threat to Malaysia's fishermen, who are also facing declining catch levels, a lack of interest from local youth in joining the trade, piracy in the Malacca Strait and the discontinuation of subsidised diesel.

Initially set to take effect in 2020 due to overfishing and unsustainable catch methods, the trawler ban was postponed until 2030 following a series of appeals and the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The regulation has cast a pall over the future of fishermen across Malaysia - particularly in Perak, which is home to nearly 40 per cent of the country's 1,600 Zone B trawlers. The state logged a fisheries catch of 335,943 tonnes in 2023, making it the largest fish-producing state.

OUT AT SEA Well before daybreak in Pantai Remis, a quiet coastal town some 80km from Perak's capital Ipoh, father-and-son duo Tan Kee Choon, 60, and Tan Yii Jia, 29, boarded their trawler at 5am on Feb 28.