Man Fined $2.8K for Fishing & Littering at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve

Fishing is a relatively relaxing sport that many people in Singapore like to engage in. There’s just something about chilling under the sun with a couple of your friends and waiting for a fish to bite the bait you’ve laid out, reeling it in, taking a snapshot, and letting it go back into the water.

And if you’re someone who does fishing often, you would probably know that you can only fish in designated fishing areas in Singapore.

Because if you don’t and you try to fish somewhere where fishing isn’t prohibited, you’re not only going to hurt the environment, but you’re also going to pay for it, just like 59-year-old Ab Wahab Ahamad.

Man Fished and Littered at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve

Wahab was seen on 28 December 2019 fishing for about 30 minutes with a drift net at a river channel within the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve.

While fishing, he was also seen smoking. But instead of keeping his spent cigarette butt for disposal in a proper trash bin when he was done with fishing, he threw it in the waters.

He thought that no one was looking, but boy was he wrong.

A volunteer at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve saw his actions and quickly reported the incident to the National Parks Board (NParks).

Fined $2,800

During his court hearing, it was revealed that Wahab actually worked at a fish farm that was just 150m away from the nature reserve. This also means that he should have known that the river channel is out of bounds for fishing.

Additionally, it was discovered that that day wasn’t his first time fishing at the nature reserve. In fact, he had been fishing along the coast at Kranji Reservoir Park, which is close in proximity to the nature reserve, “for many years”.

Taking all these into consideration, Wahab was fined S$2,800 for his actions of fishing and littering irresponsibly.

Designated Fishing Areas

In case it wasn’t clear, fishing at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve is not allowed because it is meant to serve as a sanctuary for fish to continue to grow to maturity. This is the same for other designated “no fishing” areas.

If you would like to fish, please do so in designated fishing areas in NParks-managed parks as well as nature reserves. Such areas include the ones at Changi Beach Park and Changi Boardwalk, East Coast Park, Sembawang Park, and Woodlands Waterfront Park.

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