A mountain of freshly caught shrimp was sold out in a record amount of time at the market.
MIRI: Local fishermen located along Lutong-Kuala Baram and Pulau Melayu here are delighted with the return of the shrimp season as it means extra income for them.
The shrimp, dubbed ‘bubuk’ by the locals, is an annual boon for the fishermen when its in season, as they could net between 500kg and 2000kg of the crustaceans on a good day.
“We sold the first batch of shrimp caught today at RM8 per kilo, and they were immediately snapped up by residents who were already waiting at the stall,” said fisherman Herman Hamdan.
Shrimp season starts at the tail end of the Chinese New Year celebrations, and it is the time that all fishermen look forward to catch as much as they can, he added.
The relatively high price of RM8 per kilo is justified by the limited quantity of shrimp and the small timeframe fishermen have to catch them, and they are the main ingredient when it comes to making ‘belacan’ or ‘cencaluk’ – fermented shrimps or krill.
Belacan created from the shrimp is sold between RM30 and 50 per kilo while bottled cencaluk is sold between RM15 to RM20 per bottle.