Shark hunting ban should come first, not sanctuary: Masidi

Shark hunting ban should come first, not sanctuary: Masidi

He said the proposed sanctuary would lack bite if legislation to fully ban shark hunting was not in place.Kota Kinabalu: State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun said a ban on shark hunting should precede any plan to create a shark sanctuary off Sabah.
Thus, amendment to the Federal Fisheries Act are crucial toward implementing ban on shark hunting and finning to save the fast-depleting shark population in Sabah's waters.
"The idea of having the sanctuary is good, but it does not address the real issue.
"What good is a shark sanctuary if there are no laws to deter people from hunting shark?" he said.
Masidi said the sanctuary would only be able to protect sharks that stayed within its confines.
"It is an open sea and people will still hunt sharks outside the sanctuary.
The more effective method would be to totally ban shark hunting in Sabah," he added.
He said the draft for the proposed amendment to the Fisheries Act had already been prepared and the State was waiting to submit it to the Federal Cabinet, pending approval from the State Cabinet.
Masidi hoped the amendments would be approved, and added that the State was looking forward to implementing the ban as soon as possible.
More than 10,000 people have signed up for an online petition initiated by Sabah-based non-governmental organisation Borneo Conservancy last January to convince the state government to gazette the Semporna Shark Sanctuary.
The NGO is trying to push for the sanctuary, which covers 83 islands encompassing 1,001 dive sites including world-famous Sipadan, for the protection of sharks and other marine life in Semporna.


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Green Sabah says: Hopefully he Shark Hunting ban will be fully implemented throughout Sabah so that we may have better protection of the nearly extinct sharks, the Sanctuary is a good idea actually, however our government has decided to put their priorities on the ban of shark hunting first, but I hope we could have the Shark Sanctuary which will cover the 83 islands such as Sipadan and Semporna.