Shark finning may not be banned in Sabah despite enactment

By: 8 years ago

A supporter of the anti-shark fins animal right group signs a petition on a shark figured cardboard cutout during a campaign against killing of sharks for the sake of shark fin soup in Singapore on April 18, 2009. AFP FILE PHOTO

A move by Sabah state to pass its own law banning the hunting and finning of sharks, may see the enactment being challenged, said the federal government.

State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Masidi Manjun said there was a possibility that such a state law would be rendered ineffective.

“Our officers are studying the relevant laws, taking into account that federal law is supreme,” he told The Star Monday (August 1).

“The state can only enact its own law if such legislation does not contradict with any existing provision in the Federal Fisheries Act that is currently enforced in Sabah.”

Masidi said that no state law to ban shark hunting and finning could stand up in court if it overrides provisions in the Fisheries Act which does not make such actions an offence. “The reason is simple. Federal law takes precedence over state law.

“Any person charged under state law could apply for a court declaration that the state law is void because it goes against the provisions of a federal law,” Masidi said.

“The Fisheries Act needs to be amended to allow Sabah to enact its own law against shark finning.”

He added that Sabah could be excluded from certain provisions of the Act that would allow it to enact its own law.

There is mounting pressure from international and local conservationists on the Sabah government to amend the Fisheries Act to ban shark hunting and finning.

Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek, however, saw amendements to the Act as unnecessary.

He had said that Sabah was free to amend its state laws to ban shark hunting, but federal regulations would remain.

The state fisheries department was outside the federal government’s jurisdiction, making it possible for the state to enact its own law on shark hunting, he said.

Ahmad Shabery had also said that out of the 67 shark species, of which 48 could be found in Sabah waters, only two were considered endangered – whale shark and sawfish.