The artisanal fishers of the Malaysian Peninsula cautiously read the ocean tides and cast their nets in the early morning, hoping to catch a rich variety of crab, shrimp and fish. Behind them, high-rise condos, wooden cabins, and brick houses crowd the coastline.
The days of abundant fishing are long gone. The nets too often end up entangled with mud and fish bones. The coastal-fishing way of life hangs by a thin thread as development interests and tourism transform the local economy, dominating communities and the landscape alike.
Fishing has become ever more difficult for thousands of fishers here as massive land reclamation schemes such as Seri Tanjung Pinang (STP) and Penang South Islands (PSR) seek state approval.
“It takes a lot of patience to be a fisher. We can never be certain about our yield whenever and wherever we cast our nets,” said Tuan Haji Zakaria, a 65-year-old fisher living in the village of Sungai Batu, located in southern Penang Island. Tanjung Tokong, to the north, and Sungai Batu, to the south of the island, are among the coastal fishing villages affected by land reclamation and development.
“We keep moving whenever they develop,” said Ishak Yusoff, a fisher and tour guide living in the coastal village of Tanjung Tokong. “They develop, we move. They develop more, we will have nowhere else to go.”
Penang Island is home to tropical rainforests and mangrove wetlands in the southwest, including endangered fauna, such as dusky langurs. George Town, its main city, was made a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2008. But in recent years an increasing number of high-rise luxurious condos and shopping malls have been built on the coastline. And local communities rarely benefit from such development.
Some of the fishers explain that the land reclamation projects have been at the expense of local sea life and at the cost of their own livelihoods, which are intertwined with the sea. Indeed, fishing is no longer their main source of livelihood. As they experience a drastic drop in daily yields, some are turning to ecotourism and running homestay programs for tourists.
The state government signed a legal agreement in 2017 allowing the Stonyhurst International School to construct a water-sports facility on state-owned land where the Tanjung Tokong villagers are currently residing.