The PIC said the reclamation project will not stop fishermen from fishing or threaten food security because the fishing zone off southern Penang is vast, which is up to eight nautical miles (14.8km) from the coastline.
“The local fishermen usually catch fish in areas located beyond the project site.
“We received this information from local fishermen and verified this by conducting physical boat count and by using satellite images that captured the movements of fishing boats in the southern Penang Island waters,” it said in a statement today.
FMT had reported that several fishermen had rejected claims that the reclamation area for the massive project is devoid of fish and prawns.
The fishermen interviewed by FMT said there is an abundance of fish and prawns in the waters off Bayan Lepas, to the extent that people come from as far as Kedah and Perak to fish in the waters.
The PIC also described claims of the PSI project impacting the waters and coastlines of southern Kedah, northern Perak and even Selangor as “unfounded and without scientific basis”.
It said mitigation measures will confine the impact to the project site based on the assessment provided in the approved Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report.
Based on the EIA report, it said, the reclamation will be done in phases, which means the impact will only occur gradually and be controlled at the work site through continuous monitoring by the authorities and careful implementation of mitigation measures.
The corporation also said the proposed concessions are situated upwards by 30km away from the coast of Perak, which is more than double the distance from the stipulated eight nautical miles of the artisanal fisheries’ zone.
It also hit out at critics for attacking the PSI for the carbon it would release, citing the National Physical Planning Council’s (NPPC) forecast in 2019 that the project would emit 3.2 million tonnes of carbon annually.
“But they neglect to mention the NPPC’s recommendation for PSI to reduce carbon emissions by 40%,” it said.
It said Penang’s response to the NPPC’s advice was to have a low-carbon city framework (LCCF) put in place for PSI to ensure its development would adhere to low-carbon principles.