MIRI: Waters off the coast here can become the top spot choice for tuna fishing, considering the increase in tuna population, said Tourism, Arts and Culture Assistant Minister Datuk Lee Kim Shin.
He said this when met by the media at the Miri City’s 12th International Deep Sea Fishing Tournament after witnessing 141 local and foreign anglers landed their catches at Marina Jetty, here, yesterday morning.
“Tuna fishing can help to propel this city’s tourism sector further,” Lee said.
He also proposed to the tournament organiser, Miri Anglers Club, to promote the event to Japan as the country is known as the biggest consumer of tuna.
“Be it raw for sushi or sashimi or fried…tuna is an important element of the food culture in Japan,” he pointed out.
Lee also expressed surprise with the tournament’s catch yesterday which comprised mainly of tuna and groupers.
“This shows that Miri waters have plenty of tuna and groupers apart from other fishes,” he said.
Also present to witness the landings were Piasau assemblyman Datuk Sebastian Ting and Miri Mayor Adam Yii.
The tournament which started from May 2 concluded yesterday (May 5).
An angler from Brunei Darussalam, Mohammad Taib Alikhan, 43, emerged champion to bring home RM20,000 with his catch of a giant grouper weighing at 60.7kg.
It was Taib’s second participation in the tournament.
He took part in the event last year but did not win any prize.
“I guess this year is my lucky year and I managed to catch this giant grouper,” Taib said when met at Marina Jetty after landing his catch.
He added that the grouper was caught at 5.30pm on Saturday.
The second place was Tan Bin from Malaysia with his catch a grouper weighing 59.20kg while in third place was Singaporean Sunny Yun Tar Sun with a grouper weighing 39.94kg.
Tan and Yun received RM6,000 and RM 3,000, respectively.
Meanwhile, in the team category, China emerged champion while in second place was Brunei. In third place were Singapore and Malaysia.
For the team category, champion bagged a cash prize of RM5,000 while Brunei received RM3,000.
Third place Singapore and Malaysia received RM2,000 each.
The tournament’s location, the Luconia shoals is located between 80 and140 nautical miles off Miri’s coast. It takes between eight and12 hours by boat to reach the location.
Luconia shoals had been gazzetted as a Marine National Park and the biggest in the country.
It is located in the South China Sea and lies in the Sunda Continental Shelf in the Malaysian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) within Sarawak territorial waters.
The event drew 31 anglers from both Singapore and China, Brunei (25) and 54 from Malaysia.
The event was supported by Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture Sarawak.
