Local lobster
KOTA KINABALU: Decreasing supply and rising demand has driven up the price of live lobsters by 100 to 120 per cent over the past five years.
In fact, seafood restaurants are finding it difficult to secure sufficient quantity of live lobsters due to the limited supply.
A local seafood restaurant said lobsters weighing over 250 grams were considered ‘large’ and would be sold at RM240 to RM460 per kilogram depending on the species.
Meanwhile, lobsters weighing less than 200 grams were considered ‘small’ and would cost around RM200 per kilogram.
Due to the shortage of supply, the restaurant said lobsters weighing 220 grams would now be regarded as large size.
“Seafood restaurants are fighting over lobsters due to the limited supply,” he said.
He said some restaurants had resorted to importing live lobsters from Western Australia instead to cope with the decreasing supply.
“Although Australian live lobsters are cheaper than local lobsters by about RM30 per kilogram, the mortality rate of the imported lobsters are relatively higher due to problems in packaging.”
As such, most local restaurants are not willing to take the risks in importing lobsters from Australia.
At present, only few restaurants were selling Australian lobsters in Kota Kinabalu, he said.
He said 80 per cent of the lobster supply in Sabah came from Kudat, Sandakan, Tawau and Semporna.
Since the government banned pump boats in the east coast several years ago, he said many smaller fishermen had given up on catching lobsters.
“These traditional fishermen do not have the means to purchase outboard engine and speedboat for them to catch lobsters out in the sea.”
This leads to a decrease in the supply of lobsters from the east coast and cause the price of the crustacean to skyrocket as demand rises.
“Compared to five years ago, the price of lobsters in the market has increased by 100 to 120 per cent.”
Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Junz Wong has said that his ministry would study carefully policies relating to wild and farmed lobsters, including restricting the catch of wild lobsters as some irresponsible quarters did not release baby lobsters back into the sea.
Wong said he would also look into restricting the sales of lobsters below 500 grams in restaurants or for export to preserve the continuous supply of lobsters in Sabah.