By RUBEN SARIO
KOTA KINABALU: A probe is underway into reports that pesticides are being used to catch fish in a pristine river in the southwestern Sipitang district bordering Sarawak.
State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun said he had asked Sabah Environmental Conservation Department officials to check the claim by Consumers As sociation of Sabah president Datuk Patrick Sindu.
On Sunday, Sindu claimed that pesticides were being used to harvest lobsters along Sungai Mandalong in Sipitang.
He said the chemicals not only affected marine life but were also hazardous to humans as the river was the source of water for residents in the district.
Masidi said that in the past, irresponsible people had used various dangerous methods to catch river fish like using poison extracted from the tuba root, electrocution and home-made explosives.
“We hope those with information on such activities will alert our enforcement staff so that swift preventive action can be taken.”
He added, however, that many riverine villagers now practised tagal or community-based conservation initiatives in which fishing was banned along certain river stretches except for a yearly harvest.
“Many communities have learnt that the conservation effort has paid off in the sense that the rivers are once again teeming with fish and this spells economic spinoffs for them like attracting tourists to their areas,” said Masidi.
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