No safety gear at all or even if available, the equipment is either poorly maintained or badly in need of being replaced.
Such is the state of most vessels involved in deep-sea fishing activities in Malaysia, which compromises the safety of their crew members and fishermen who are exposed to all kinds of risks including bad weather conditions, hostile encounters with fishermen from other countries and even pirate attacks.
Bernama, which was the only media organisation that participated in a recent operation carried out by the Department of Fisheries Malaysia (DoF) to monitor and supervise fishing vessels in the North Central Zone (Perak and Penang waters), found that most of the boats checked by DoF did not have fire extinguishers, safety jackets and safety buoys on board. And, even if safety jackets were available, they were mostly worn out and not fit to be used.
National Fishermen’s Association (Nekmat) chairman Abdul Hamid Bahari agreed that safety measures on board fishing vessels still left much to be desired, hence endangering the lives of deep-sea and coastal fishermen.
According to DoF data, the majority of licensed fishing boats in Malaysia are not equipped with tracking tools.
As of 2020, only 2,480 out of 48,826 licensed fishing vessels were equipped with the automatic identification system (AIS), an automatic tracking system.
Commenting on the importance of using AIS, Association of Marine Industries of Malaysia president Soo Jee Main said currently it is only compulsory for ships involved in domestic shipping activities to use AIS.
For fishing vessels, the use of AIS is not a requirement in their licensing conditions but it is understood that DoF encourages fishing boats to be fitted with the tracking system.