River Tourism – Legal Perspective-A case study of Nenggiri River, Kelantan.

E.        RIVER CRUISE OF NENGGIRI

            The river cruise of Nenggiri departing from Kuala Betis and ends at Kg. Setar Gua Musang.  Some of these trips using bamboos raft as means of transport.   Among other activities within this river cruise is camping on the riverbank.  At any point of the trip, tourists can always stop to observe animal tracks, bird watching, and fishing.  Again the dilemma is: Using bamboos as rafts needs of cutting bamboos.  Bamboos can be easily found on riverbanks.  But some of these areas are within permanent jungle reserves and subjected to prohibition in cutting and felling jungle produce (including bamboo!).  Bamboos on river-bank are also a natural river strong-hold and must be restored (section 4 Waters Act 1920) and Rivers and Drainage Enactment (Kelantan) 1935 (and within the jurisdiction of the Department of Irrigation and Drainage). Then, are we still lawful in offering bamboo rafting as Nenggiri River cruising to tourists? Catching several types of river fishes (or using certain methods in catching fishes) are also prohibited, and is an offence under section 38(i) (c) (d) etc. of Fisheries Act 1985.  How do the tourists know the type of fish and catching methods are prohibited?

The above extract is part of a paper, Abdul Aziz Hussin, Badaruddin Mohamed, Zulkifli Osman & Abdullah Mahmood. 2005. River Tourism – Legal Perspective-A case study of Nenggiri River, Gua Musang, Kelantan. Procedings of 4th Annual Seminar on Sustainability Science and Management, KUSTEM, Kuala Terengganu.  2-3 May 2005.