“Ornamental fish like the arowana is a big and lucrative industry which can be done in Sarawak as the state is endowed with many rivers which are still pristine in the interior areas,” The Starreported him as saying.
In 2009, the country produced 632 million ornamental fish by 470 breeders, which involved a breeding and production area of about 800ha. The minister said the Federal Government placed much emphasis on ornamental fish trade because it was a high-value commodity under the agriculture sector’s National Key Economic Areas.
Based on the trade’s potential, the Government had set a target to produce about three billion ornamental fish by 2020. “This new source of income is expected to create more than 9,000 jobs,” he said.
Elsewhere, Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry Deputy Minister Datuk Chua Tee Yong said the ministry had set targets of 1,500 million ornamental fish under the 10th Malaysia Plan. He said: “We produce various and high quality fish groups like cichlid such as discus and angelfish; poecilids comprising guppy, swordtail and molly; cyprinid such as goldfish, koi and tiger barb; and characins.
“The Malaysian Golden Arowana is the most expensive fish and mainly produced in Kerian District, Perak and this makes the state the leader in arowana breeding and production.”
There were about 130 arowana breeders in the country, but only 27 had registered their farms with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). He said breeders should register their farms with CITES to facilitate arowana export because the fish trade was controlled. -Pet Business World
No comments:
Post a Comment