KUALA LUMPUR: Nearly 300,000 inspections were conducted by the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) last year involving all types of fishing vessels and boats in Malaysian waters, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said although the MMEA operates with its current asset capacity, the agency is still showing excellent performance.
However, the MMEA has short-, medium- and long-term plans to improve its asset capabilities including through the installation of the Sea Surveillance System radar.
“The sea surveillance system radar is ideally used to monitor the country’s entire sea borders, but there are still shortcomings...the plan is (already) included (in the rolling plan of the 12th Malaysia Plan) but it is subject to the MOF (Ministry of Finance) approval,” he said during a question-and-answer session.
He said this in reply to a supplementary question from Datuk Mohd Shahar Abdullah (BN-Paya Besar) in relation to MMEA’s asset readiness including the use of sea surveillance radar.
Earlier, when replying to the original question from Datuk Ahmad Marzuk Shaary (PN-Pengkalan Chepa) regarding the government’s efforts to overcome the encroachment of foreign fishermen in the South China Sea area, Saifuddin said in addition to 24-hour surveillance in national waters, various integrated operations were also carried out.
He said these included Op Naga involving several other agencies, Op Gelora, Op Landai and Op Kuda Laut to curb the encroachment by foreign fishermen. - Bernama