Dredging Impact towards Marine Ecosystem and Fisheries Activity at Penang Coastal Area
Fauziah Ab Rahman1, Nor Amira Hassan2, Azman Ismail3, Bakhtiar Ariff Baharudin4
1Fauziah Ab Rahman, Malaysian Institute of Marine Engineering Technology, Universiti Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
2Nor Amira Hassan, Malaysian Institute of Marine Engineering Technology, Universiti Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
3Azman Ismail, Malaysian Institute of Marine Engineering Technology, Universiti Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
4Bakhtiar Ariff Baharudin, Malaysian Institute of Marine Engineering Technology, Universiti Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Manuscript received on 28 April 2019 | Revised Manuscript received on 10 May 2019 | Manuscript Published on 17 May 2019 | PP: 415-421 | Volume-8 Issue-1S May 2019 | Retrieval Number: A10600581S19/2019©BEIESP
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© The Authors. Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Abstract: The increase of land reclamation project in Penang due to interest for advancement and frameworks of housing, businesses, and commercials. However, from the dredging activities and reclaimed land will affect the angler’s livelihood in term of their economy, activities, environment, and health. Therefore, this research was conducted to analyse fisher’s perspective about dredging problems. Besides, the researcher wants to identify from anglers perception on how far the dredging activities will affect the ecosystem at surrounding area. Data were taken by using questionnaire instrument that was distributed to five areas in Penang. The questionnaire was classified into various factors including the factor of development, economy, living organism and plant, production, authority, air, and water pollution. Data has been analysed by using IBM SPSS to know the strength relation under each part of the questionnaire in both variables. The result shows that there are no significant differences between factor development, living organism and plant, and production in overall perception level among fishers about dredging problem. Air pollution is the primary factor in angler’s perception about the effects from land reclamation and dredging activities toward ecosystem disturbance. It is because most of the anglers give negative feedback about the loss of wetlands as air filtration give adverse impact on health and increase potential spreading of disease. Hazard in the coastal area caused by environmental change and human actions. As conclusion majority of the respondent, vigorously protest against land reclamation and dredging activities within Penang coastal area that adversely influenced the environment and fishing activities.
Keywords: Land Reclamation; Dredge; Coastal Development.
Scope of the Article: Marine Engineering