GEORGE TOWN, April 21 — River pollution in Batu Ferringhi, which is a tourist destination in the state, has returned and this time the situation is said to be rather bad to the extent that the income of fishermen and operators of the tourism industry had been affected.

Previously, in February 2014, the water in Sungai Batu Feringghi, here had turned black believed to be caused by pollution and sewage waste, and the beach is facing serious erosion besides the presence of e-coli bacteria (Escherichia coli).

Now, two years after the incident, Sungai Mas which is located nearby is facing the same problem when the water turned black and oily besides emitting foul smell.

A survey by Bernama in the area found there was pollution in the river which is located next to a hotel and restaurant which is a tourist destination, making it unpleasant for tourists especially those staying at the hotel.

The hotel’s security manager, Edward Xavier said the foul smell from the river resulted in the hotel getting numerous complaints to the extent that some foreign tourists had asked to change their rooms because they could not stand the smell.

“There are certainly complaints from the guests, in a week easily we get three or four complaints. Some of them just made general complaints while some are very serious. They said they could not stay in the room and then we have to change them to another room.

“Merely because of the smell. The river, they are not very worried about it, but it is because of the smell. That is what is causing them to be a litle bit upset because they spent much money to come here and relax, but there is the (foul) smell and all that,” he told Bernama.

 BN He said although the river had been polluted previously, it did not prolong unlike this year when the situation was worse probably because of the weather factor with a low rainfall which could not carry the river water to the sea.

An employee of a restaurant near the river, S.Kanna, 43, said although the river faced pollution problems every year, no action had been taken by the authorities to resolve the issue.

“We seek assistance from the state government in case they can resolve the problem as soon as possible. Because all our customers complained. Even those intending to change clothes in the toilet had run away. Foreign tourists coming here to bathe are scared that the water source may be dirty,” he said.

For the coastal fishermen in the area, they describe this year as the worst because the dirty sea water resulted in reduced fish landing and affected their income.

Ooi Boon Guan, 52, said the dirty and muddy water resulted in his net becoming dirty and making it difficult for him to catch fish.

“In the past, fish landing had been okay, but now there is no fish. The net we pulled up turned black and smelly. The fish do not want to come near and less fish are caught, we can’t even meet the cost of petrol. We get only about RM80 per catch now while in the past we could get hundreds of ringgit,” he said.

A fisherman in the South-West area, Abdul Zani Talib, 45, said the reduced catch since February had affected the fishermen, especially the fulltime fishermen.

He said the problem of dirty water in Teluk Bahang left the coastal fishermen like himself with no choice because the fishing area allowed for them was limited besides the factor of the small boat.

“There was a time when I only caught two fish after spending six hours at sea,” he said.

Ramley Hassan, 68, said the reduced catch had resulted in him cutting down the number of times he went to see because the catch was not worth the money spent on petrol used for fishing.

“This year is very sad, previously we used to get roughly one or two kilos of ‘ikan senangin’. Now, none at all. Fortunately the government gave petrol subsidy,” he said.

As such, a Member of the Board of Directors of the Teluk Bahang Area Fishermen’s Association, Mohd Amin Nordin, 56, asked the government to carry out a study on the cause of the reduction in marine products in the state.

Compared to the previous years, the fishermen enjoyed better catch to the extent that the wholesalers were owing them, but this year the fishermen’s income had been severely affected.

“This problem had never occurred before, the year 2016 is very bad.

Certainly it is a problem, with lower catches, we certainly cannot go to sea,” he said. — Bernama