GEORGE TOWN, March 1 — The proposed Penang South Reclamation (PSR) project will destroy the livelihoods of all offshore fishermen in the southern coast of the island, a Permatang Damar Laut resident claimed today.
Zarina Baharom, who lives in one of the fishing villages there, said the majority of fishermen off the southern coast are offshore fishermen with small fishing boats.
“They don’t have big trawlers to go out to the deep sea, they can only fish offshore and the site they usually fish is where the three islands reclamation will be,” she told reporters after taking part in a peaceful protest against the PSR and Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP) organised by Penang Forum and several residents’ association.
Zarina said these fishermen are not highly educated and are mostly school dropouts who relied on fishing to support their families.
She said the reclamation will kill off the livelihood of thousands of fishermen and drag their families down the poverty line.
“They are literally putting sand into the fishermen’s rice bowl, the three islands will destroy the whole ecosystem, there will not be any fishes there and these fishermen can’t go out to deep sea because they don’t have trawlers,” she said.
Zarina said all the promises made by the state government to appease the fishermen were merely “empty promises”.
“If they claim it will not affect at all, this is all a lie, the ecosystem will be destroyed, no fishes or marine life can thrive with massive reclamation going on there,” she said.
Penang Forum’s Khoo Salma accused the Penang state government of refusing to listen to the people by its insistence to push through PSR and the Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP).
“What is the difference between PSR and Forest City? Normal people will not be able to afford the luxurious condominiums they will build there, so who is it for?” she asked.
She said many people had opposed to Forest City in Johor, another mega reclamation project, and yet they want PSR to continue.
She said the contract for the project is yet to be signed thus the state can still cancel it.
She added that more than 1,500 fishermen will be negatively affected by PSR.
The PSR is a proposed reclamation project to create three man-made islands measuring 4,500 acres off the southern coast of the island.
The lands on the islands will be sold and the funds raised will be used for the implementation of the RM46 billion Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP).
It was recently revealed that one island will be used as an industrial zone, one for a new airport and one for tourism and housing.
