Fishery Management and Regulation in Peninsular Malaysia: Issues and Constraints

In Malaysia, the official view held by fishery managers is that fishery resources in the inshore waters (0-12 miles) have been biologically overfished. This has prompted the introduction of new management policies such as license limitation, allocation of fishing grounds, and mesh size regulation. The paper examines a number of issues and constraints confronting the implementation of these policies. In most tropical fisheries countries like Malaysia, these issues and constraints are more complicated than mere operational difficulties (enforcement problems, bureaucratic inefficiencies, etc.) commonly associated with fishery management in the developed countries. This stems from not only the dualistic nature of the Malaysian fisheries sector—that is, large-scale commercialized fisheries on the one hand, and traditional smallscale artisal fisheries on the other—but also the glaring socioeconomic inequalities between the two. Worse still, while the majority of the commercialized fishermen are Chinese, the artisanal fishermen are predominantly Malays- and the New Economic Policy (NEP) seeks to reduce the economic imbalance between races in the country. The paper also examines the potential effects of the license limitation, allocation of fishing grounds and mesh size regulation policies on productivity of the individual fishermen, employment, cost of fishing, and pressure on fish stock.Environmental Economics and Policy, International Development, International Relations/Trade, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,