Biologically Sustainable Fishery Management of Pahang State Commercial Fishery in East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia: Surplus Production Modelling Approach Moe Shwe Sin, Lavaniya Gopabala Krishanan, Tai Shzee Yew
Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Development,
Universiti Malaysia Terengganu
Abstract
The management of commercial fishing industry in Malaysia need more efficient policies towards biologically and economically sustainable fishery. Overcapacity and overexploitation in the fishery would degrade and perhaps deplete fisheries populations in the case of open access. The Malaysian east coast economic region (ECER) includes the states of Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, and the Johor district of Mersing, and, in Pahang area, the number of licenses fishing vessels exceeds above the quota since the late 1980s. In Pahang state, there are two different type of fishery: Traditional fishery and Commercial fishery. In commercial fishery, Trawler and Purse seine are two major fishing gear types and overcapacity is the major issue in these two fishing gears. The focus of the research includes to evaluate the exploitation status of the fisheries resources and to assess the biologically sustainable condition of the commercial fishery in Pahang State and to propose sustainable fishery management policies. The Gordon Schaefer surplus production modelling is used with the timeseries catch and effort data retrieved from Department of Fisheries Malaysia, Annual Fisheries Statistics data. The four models of surplus production functions are being used in the study: (1) Schaefer^s Model, (2) Fox Model, (3) Schnute Model and (4) The Clark, Yoshimoto, and Pooley (CY&P) model to determine the best-fit surplus production model for estimating the theoretical catch or landing. The results indicate that the exploitation status of the fisheries resources in Pahang state is over the biologically sustainable conditions of MSY (Maximum Sustainable Yield) and the fishing effort applied in the fishing industry is over the EMSY (Effort at MSY) level. The effort control policy and limiting overcapacity and overcapitalization of the commercial fishing industry in Pahang state is crucially needed to apply in the nearest future to sustain the fishery in biologically sustainable perception.
Keywords: sustainable fishery management, commercial fishery, surplus production model, Malaysia
