Penang reclamation will hit fish supply, prices


Sheridan Mahavera

Environmental activists and fishermen protesting against the Penang South Reclamation (PSR) more than a fortnight ago at the entrance of Parliament. – The Malaysian Insight by Hasnoor Hussain. July 26, 2019.

PENANG’S controversial reclamation project will impact on the nation’s fish supply and could drive up prices for a household staple, Malaysia’s top fisheries authority told The Malaysian Insight.

Sand mining in waters off the coast of Perak for the Penang South Reclamation (PSR) would destroy fish-breeding grounds that currently supply the biggest chunk of landed fish in Malaysia, said the Fisheries Development Board (LKIM).


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Comments


  • Fish stocks have been in decline for years thanks to pollution and overfishing. Most of the fishes caught today are more plastic than fish thanks to microplastics that litter the oceans.

    Posted 4 years ago by Alfie Yap

  • On July 16, Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Datuk Salahuddin Ayub quoted was quoted as saying fishery production value of RM555 million per year in the PSR area will be affected.

    Assuming this is jetty price, retail price is probably nearly doubled at RM1bil? (Correct me?) Divided by say 2 mil people surrounding the area in Penang and Perak in the next 20 years, that would still be RM500 per person per year. That is RM2000 per family of 4. That is each family's food cost component of RM2000 per year current price is being impacted.

    Since we know that kembong, sardine, prawn, cockle prices could shoot up 2x, 3x, 5x even 10x over a decade when supplies are severely damaged, we can expect Penangites and Perakians to be spending perhaps RM2k-RM10k more in the next decade to maintain the current living standard.

    Or accept lower living standards.

    That is what happened with cockles. While Dr. Afif joked about "Let them eat oysters!" when people complained about expensive and unavailable cockles, there is one thing everyone has overlooked:

    Cockles were used in curry mee or CKT actually because they were cheap, undesirable, dirty-looking. Just like small prawns in Hokkien used to be part of an idiom: "No fish to eat, well, put up with prawns lah!" (bo hu hae ya ho). Prawn was cheap and undesirable.

    So it has been a reflection of tight living standards that we had accepted cockles (and prawn head boileds in soup) and other cheaper seafood as classic. It is a DETERIORATION of living standards that they have now become unavailable. And now we are FURTHER expecting even worse scenario to come in terms of the destruction of our sea environment.

    I am not a "class struggle" theory guy. But the politicians have obviously been eating too much tax-paid oysters in government function buffets.

    Posted 4 years ago by K S