OPENING SPEECH BY

THE HONOURABLE DATO’ WIRA MOHD. JOHARI BIN BAHARUM,

DEPUTY MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND AGRO-BASED INDUSTRY,
MALAYSIA
AT THE SEMINAR ON MONITORING, CONTROL AND SURVEILLANCE (MCS)
NETWORK, AND FISHERY RESOURCES AND MANAGEMENT

TARIKH : 8 Dis. 2010 (Rabu)

MASA : 2.30 Petang
TEMPAT : Avillion Legacy Hotel, Melaka.

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Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.

Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh and very good

afternoon.

Yang Berhormat Datuk Mohamad Hidhir bin Abu Hassan,

Chairman Of The Malacca Rural And Agriculture Committee.

Yang Berbahagia Datuk Haji Suhaili bin Hj. Lee,

Deputy Director General of Fisheries Malaysia.

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Distinguished guests and Speakers,
Ladies and gentlemen.

To our participants from various countries who have come all the
way from their respective countries to participate in this seminar,
I would like to wish you "Selamat Datang" or Welcome to
Malaysia.

First of all on behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based

Industry Malaysia I would like to thank the organizers for inviting

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me to be present here. It is indeed a great honor for me to be
part of the seminar.

It gives me a great pleasure to meet you all at this Seminar and I

would like to take this opportunity to welcome you all to this
Historical City of Malacca. Malacca, which is one of the States in
Malaysia, is a very peaceful State with people of different races
practicing different religions and cultures.

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Ladies and gentlemen,

According to the program, the most important subject matter that

you are going to discuss within this three-day Seminar is
pertaining to monitoring, control and surveillance network, and
fishery resources and management.

Malaysia has been trying hard to ensure fisheries resources are

properly managed and conserved by controlling fishing activities.
In fact, Malaysia has been putting a great effort to ensure that the
marine fisheries resources are exploited in a sustainable basis.
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To make this happen, it has introduced fisheries laws and
policies as a legal framework. In this respect, only the fishing
vessels with valid license are allowed to conduct fishing activities
in their respective fishing zones. If they do fishing operation
which contravenes fisheries laws, then these vessels are
considered as fishing illegally.

To enforce the law, we need enforcement vessels to patrol the

marine waters with the main objective to protect the fishery
resources from being exploited illegally.

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In the context of getting information on the status of fishery
resources, resource surveys and data collection on landing of
fish are carried out. All the above activities are programs under
monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS) and Malaysia is very
committed in implementing all these activities including
unreported landings and unregulated fishing in the high seas.
This is in line with the call by Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO) to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU
Fishing).

Ladies and gentlemen.

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Lastly on behalf of the Government of Malaysia, let me express
our thanks again to the organizers for choosing Malaysia as the
host for this seminar. We’ve come together here to discus about
the future of the global aquaculture sector. While cracking your
heads to produce outstanding outcomes of this Seminar, please
take your free time enjoy the beautiful scenery of Malacca City,
the food delicacies and visits to important historical heritage
sites. Share your great experiences, knowledge and information
as well as jokes with each other. Be happy and I wish you all in
good health.
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With that note I hereby declare open this Seminar on Monitoring,
Control and Surveillance Network, and Fishery Resources and
Management officially.

Wabilahi taufik, walhidayah, wassalamualaikum warahmatullah

hiwabarakatuh.

Thank you.