Irmohizam sounds the gong to launch the AGM. Penesa chairman Bohari Ghani is at second left.
KUCHING: Malaysia needs to focus on the frozen seafood and fresh water fish industries to meet increasing demand and maintain the price of fish during the monsoon season.
Fisheries Development Authority of Malaysia (LKIM) chairman Datuk Irmohizam Ibrahim said during the board’s recent trip to Brussels, Belgium, they learned that when frozen correctly, fish and other seafood can be as good as fresh and greatly help to meet shortages during bad weather.
“These Europeans would select the most in demand seafood and fish and freeze them so that consumers can always have what they want when there are shortages and this helps the industry economically and maintains profitability in these respective nations,” he said during the Sarawak Fishermen’s Association (Penesa) 29th annual general meeting on Wednesday.
“Our favourite ‘ikan rakyat’ (people’s fish) like Indian mackerel, trevally fish, round scad, hard tail scad, tilapia and catfish can be frozen as the market price is reasonable and affordable and there will always be no shortage.”
Irmohizam said he was very impressed that Penesa’s 18,703 registered members here are very proactive in developing the fishing sector in the state and contribute to the country’s economy.
He hoped the Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry’s effort to stop middlemen would improve the economic well-being of the fishing community.
“This effort by the government would help to increase the fishermen’s income by 20 to 30 per cent. In fact the price of fish would decrease by 20 to 30 per cent if the programme is implemented fully,” he said.
He added that LKIM would increase fishermen’s markets from 35 to 100 nationwide including in Sarawak.
Meanwhile, Penesa recorded a total revenue of RM167.9 million in 2013 compared to RM165.6 million in 2012.
The association made a profit of RM2.46 million last year.