He said it was wrong and illegal to lease out their licenses as their action would cause irreparable effects on the marine resources of the country.

Although there was no evidence that the local licensees had leased out their licenses to foreign deep-sea fishing operation to date, he said the department would act immediately on the matter if it received any reports.

"Not only their licenses will be withdrawn, the local operators will not have any opportunity to regain their licenses, as they will be cancelled," said Tiong.

Earlier, he had asked Agriculture Minister to reveal the ministry had taken action against the local deep-sea fishing license holders who have leased out their licenses to foreign operators.

He had also asked the minister to reveal whether the government had taken action against foreign deep-sea fishing vessels, which encroached into the Sarawak waters, thus affecting the livelihood of the local fishermen.

On the encroachment by foreign fishing vessels into Malaysian waters, he said the government had from time to time increased the surveillance and monitory activities, which were required by the Fisheries Act 1985.

The surveillance and monitory activities in the country's waters through regular patrolling operations and air surveillances are being conducted by the maritime enforcement agencies such as the Royal Malaysian Navy, Marine Police and Royal Air Force, he said.

Under Section 15(1)(a) of the Malaysian Fisheries Act, foreign fishing vessels found to have encroached were liable to be detained, and the captain of the vessel could be fined up to RM 1 million and RM 100,000 in fines for every crew.

Tiong also said the government had always encouraged concerned public especially the local fishermen or fishermen association to report on the encroachment by foreign fishing vessels into the country waters to the Fisheries Department or the Maritime Enforcement Co-ordination Centre (PPPM). Alternatively, they could report to their people representatives.

"It is important that we protect our waters from being encroached by foreign fishing vessels. Incessant encroachments by foreign fishing vessels will contribute towards the depletion of our marine resources, " he said, adding that it was imperative that local fishermen's interests in the fishing industry were protected.

He urged the local fishermen and fishermen associations to co-operate with the authorities especially the Fisheries Department and Marine Police to stamp out these illegal activities.  Conversely, he said the authorities concerned should be co-operative with  the local fishermen by taking prompt action when they received information, tip-off or report on the encroachment.

"It is pertinent that we protect the fishing industries and if we do not take necessary actions, it will jeopardize the industry," he said.

If so, Tiong said,  not only the marine resources would be depleted, it would cause a major blow to the fishing industry too.

Therefore, he said we need to maintain a close-knitted co-operation between the authorities and the local fishermen associations, adding that if the co-operation did not exist, the fishing industry would not be able to survice.

When that time comed, he said we had to import a lot more marine products as the prices of fish or other marine products would be incredulously high.

"At that time, who should take the blame?" he said...END WITH NO PHOTO.