WITH fishery resources depleting in Malaysia, the Agriculture and Agro-based Ministry plans bump up reliance on farmed fish by 20% to make it 50-50 with caught fish.

Currently, 70% of the fish consumed by Malaysians are captured from the wild, and only 30% are bred in farms, deputy minister Sin Tze Tzin said.

He said aquaculture is the way forward for the fishing industry.

“In 1960, a fishery resource survey found that we had 37,000 metric tonnes of fish per sq km of biomass in the sea. In 2014, we were down to just over 1,000 metric tonnes. We had 5% left, which is alarming.

“This is due to overfishing and increased demand for fish because of the increase in population. We will not have enough fish to feed the people, even though our self-sufficiency level (SSL) for fish is at 90%.

“For now, our supply of captured and reared fish is enough, but aquaculture is the way forward,” he told reporters during a visit to WorldFish, an international non-profit organisation based in Penang that conducts research on fisheries and aquaculture to reduce hunger and feed the poor.

Sim said Penang is a good model for the government’s effort to increase aquaculture share in Malaysia’s fishery resources, as the state has already achieved the 50-50 balance.

Penang’s aquaculture sector is worth RM1.2 billion.

“We want more young people to get into the aquaculture business. I have visited some aquaculture facilities, and I can see that this business can make money,” he said.

Sim said the ministry can offer interested parties training, technical advice, fish seeds and opportunities to take part in pilot projects.

However, aquaculture or fish farming is not without its challenges, he said, which include identifying suitable locations for fish farms, pollution in the sea due to industrial discharge, expensive imported fish feed, and disease. – May 10, 2019.