Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on January 7, 2016.

 

KUANTAN: Purported contamination from bauxite mining here has forced fishermen to go further out to catch fish, raising their costs.

Mohamad (not his real name), 62, said bauxite mining at Kuantan Port, which is near Pantai Balok, had contaminated the sea waters, forcing more than 100 fishermen to move further from their usual spot to catch fish.

“Before, fishermen with small boats only needed to go about 10km from the beach to catch fish, but now we need to double our distance as the fish no longer stay at the normal spot because of the contaminated water. Fish can sense the change in the water and move to a safer place,” said Mohamad.

He said because of the longer distance, they needed to fork out more for fuel and work longer hours to ensure their catch covered the cost.

“Before, we only needed a bottle of fuel — now we use three. Before, we only worked until noon; now, we cannot go home until we have enough to cover the cost,” said the fisherman, who has been at the job for 40 years.

He said their earnings remained the same, but the prices of fish, especially red snapper, had gone up.

“A red snapper used to cost only RM25 at the market here, but now it’s RM10 more because it is hard to catch.”

He added that fish here had become costlier after the bauxite mining started.

“Our earnings remain the same, although [the] cost has escalated. I have been a fisherman all my life. I do not know how to do other things.

“The port claimed that the water turned red not because of bauxite, but we all know it is. When they transfer the mineral from [the] port to ships, some bits drop into the sea.”

Kuantan Port Consortium Sdn Bhd on Monday denied that the “red sea” in Pantai Balok and Pantai Batu Hitam was caused by bauxite mining. — The Malaysian Insider

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