He said the Sarawak Reef Ball Project was initiated two years ago to protect marine resources from illegal trawling and provide a conducive environment for marine life to breed.

He said it was also to provide better catches for local fishermen and to increase the income of coastal communities.

“The programme had yielded positive results as fishermen in Belawai and Mukah are now able to get an income of RM300 per day compared with only RM100 in the past,” he said at the launching ceremony to deploy 1,100 artificial reef balls in Sampadi-Tanjung Datu waters.

He said the state had allocated RM70 million, under “Projek Rakyat”, to deploy 16,800 artificial reef balls along the state’s coastline.

To date, over 5,000 have been deployed since 2018.

“Once we complete deploying all the reef balls from Tanjung Datu to Lawas, Sarawak will have the longest reef ball placement in the world,” he said.

Abang Johari said apart from protecting and conserving marine ecosystems, it will also create new ecotourism sites for diving and sportfishing.