Why have so many fish died in Penang?

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Why is it taking so long to find out what is really causing the problem off the northern coast of Penang Island?

Why are only farmed fish being affected? Because they have nowhere to run?

Why is the dissolved oxygen level so low?

Why the sudden bloom in phytoplankton?

What is the source of high metal content in the water?

How safe are the fish in the market now?

Should we not be studying the impact of all that reclamation – and disposal of material – in the north, before moving on with massive reclamation in the south of Penang Island?

Already the coastal aquaculture operators off southern mainland Penang are worried about the massive three-island project off the southern coast of Penang.

In Butterworth, a fishermen’s unit leader in Bagan Ajm told me that their catch had plummeted by 90% ever since land reclamation began.

The fishermen’s units on the mainland have just issued the following statement against plans for more than 1,600 acres of land reclamation in northern mainland Penang, from Bagan Ajam to Teluk Ayer Tawar.

Penambakan yang menyebabkan kemusnahan ekosistem dan mata pencarian nelayan

Kami, masyarakat nelayan Pulau Pinang, meluahkan kegusaran kami sekiranya projek tambakan laut Butterworth Waterfront, yang bermula dari pesisir pantai Butterworth hingga ke pesisir pantai Teluk Ayer Tawar yang sepanjang km dengan kelebaran 854 meter, dilaksanakan.

Ini akan menyebabkan kemusnahan ekosistem termasuk satu-satuanya hutan paya bakau api-api di pantai barat utara semenanjung Malaysia dan kawasan burung hijrah di Teluk Ayer Tawar. Mata pencarian nelayan bergantung pada perlindungan ekosistem hutan paya bakau yang mana amat penting untuk pembiakan hidupan laut.

Projek tambakan laut STP2 yang sedang dilaksanakan di pantai Tanjung Tokong dan Gurney Drive telah merosakkan kualiti air dari selat Pulau Pinang sampai ke Teluk Bahang, termasuklah kawasan pantai pelancongan di Batu Feringgi.

Tambakan laut STP2 ini juga membawa kesan yang amat buruk kepada kawasan perikanan nelayan di Butterworth, sehingga ikan kembung (atau pelaling) sudah terancam. Ikan kembung adalah spesis yang diklasifikasikan sebagai ikan rakyat oleh LKIM.

Ada banyak lagi isu-isu daripada penambakan BORR dari tahun 2003 lagi, yang masih belum diselasaikan sehingga hari ini seperti:

  • Pampasan kepada nelayan yang belum lengkap dibayar sejak tahun 2009
  • Janji penempatan kekal nelayan Butterworth yang terdiri daripada kuarter dan jeti nelayan yang belum ditunaikan
  • Terdapat juga isu berkaitan dengan tapak sementara yang sepatutnya diserahkan kepada nelayan yang terbabit, tetapi tapak tersebut telah menjadi milik syarikat-syarikat yang tidak berkenaan, yang mana telah membina restoran-restoran atas tapak tersebut
  • Kemorosotan air laut sudah merosot dengan pemendapan selut dan keladak
  • Kerosakan jala kerana serpihan yang tertinggal di bawah air

Penambakkan pesisiran pantai Butterworth akan menjejaskan pantai Bagan Ajam dan perkampungan warisan yang sudah terkenal sebagai tarikan pelancong.

Dengan ini kami mengambil pendirian kami untuk momohon pihak berkuasa dan kerajaan negeri Pulau Pinang supaya membatalkan projek tambakan Butterworth dan pada masa yang sama kami juga menggesa Kerajaan negeri mencari alternatif yang lain untuk membiayai kos BORR.

  • Persatuan Nelayan Kawasan Seberang Perai
  • Persatuan Nelayan Unit Butterworth
  • Persatuan Nelayan Unit Bagan Ajam
  • Unit Teluk Ayer Tawar

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tunglang
tunglang
15 Aug 2019 11.51am

Fishermen urge Penang to rehabilitate seawater before PSR https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/488018 The Fishermen’s Association of Penang (Pen Mutiara) today urged the state government to rehabilitate seawater which is believed to be polluted by sea reclamation projects, before embarking on any new projects, including the Penang South Reclamation (PSR) project. Pen Mutiara chairperson Nazri Ahmad said the sea pollution caused by the disposal of reclamation waste from ongoing projects has led to the depletion of marine sources such as fish, shrimp and crabs over the last two years. “We speak from experience, because our own fishermen see the condition of the sea every… Read more »

Wei
Wei
15 Aug 2019 11.04pm
Reply to  tunglang

yeah right, we need no scientist to investigate ….just ask these fisherman, with experience they can become scientist… maybe our butcher, after much experience, can become surgeon as well…hehe

Simon Tan
Simon Tan
14 Aug 2019 6.49pm

Pity the fish farmer who has breed caged fishes for past 30 years in Telok Bahang. Too many coincidences leading to an implosion?

Another up coming coincident?
https://aliran.com/thinking-allowed-online/four-inspiring-groups-i-met-during-the-fishermens-march-to-parliament/

Malaysia must priorities food security and environmental conservation

glissantia
glissantia
15 Aug 2019 1.17pm
Reply to  Simon Tan

Let us pity ourselves first. We are facing kidney damage due to heavy metals, etc. Does MOH conduct regular checks on foods all over the country for poisons, announce the results on a website, and prosecute offenders? The answer is clear.

Fishermen (not retailers) are a special case. They don’t poison the fish. So there should be facilities to test their catches.

This will be real progress, not building skyscrapers, more “national” cars, plundering resources through cronies, trying to impress foreigners, and ever more bigotry.

Pipit
Pipit
18 Aug 2019 6.53pm
Reply to  glissantia

More than 100,000 M’sians to suffer kidney failure in next 20 years, Health Ministry warns
https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2019/08/18/more-than-100000-m039sians-to-suffer-kidney-failure-in-next-20-years-health-ministry-warns#tVlyi0Aq5jh0DCbM.99

Food of the future? Five-star edible insects served up as Thailand gets creative with bug business
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/thailand-insect-farming-food-protein-source-11786032

tunglang
tunglang
16 Aug 2019 2.04pm

Fisherfolk hand in memo to Penang governor on reclamation projects https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/488209 “In the name of development, our right to livelihood had been denied, our villages were relocated, our shores were seized, our mangrove and fish breeding grounds were destroyed, rubbish were thrown in our seas, contaminating our waterfront and shorelines, our land reclaimed for others, ” Nazri said in the memorandum. He claimed that fisherfolk had been suffering the effects of a series of reclamation projects in Penang, starting from the Bayan Lepas free industrial zone to the Lim Chong Eu (Jelutong) highway. This was followed by projects involving the… Read more »

tunglang
tunglang
14 Aug 2019 7.58pm

Why wait for Typhoon Lekima to stir up the toxic heavy metals from the seabed to cause massive death of breeding fishes? If knowing the so called permissible level of heavy metals already in the area, why didn’t they do something before the danger of stirring which can be caused by a typhoon? And it didn’t help that earlier Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies (Cemacs) have detected a shift of phytoplankton diversity and also in high concentration in a May incident. Read this by Prof Datuk Dr Aileen Tan: “Sign of eutrophication (excessive nutrients) in the shallow bay which… Read more »

glissantia
glissantia
15 Aug 2019 1.23pm
Reply to  tunglang

Are they now blaming typhoons for marine pollution? Wow! It is true that upwelling of water rich in CO2 can kill fish, but this is rare, and more due to major oceanic currents.

Wei
Wei
14 Aug 2019 8.59pm

unfortunately no scientific evidence to back up their claim…maybe they got their “evidence” from youknowwho banker and youknowwho book publisher…hehe

i am rather worry that they have not been improving on their skill of fishing, instead they blame this blame that and wasting time on fishing of different kind…. so sad