Junz showing a deep sea mud crab, a rarely seen and almost extinct species, during his visit to the hatchery.
KOTA KINABALU: A crab hatchery in Silam has been successful in breeding the first generation of flower crabs, making it one step closer to producing the crustacean on a commercial scale.
Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Datuk Junz Wong recently visited the hatchery, which is a government-initiated and privately-run operation established early this year under the crab masterplan in the Sabah Agriculture Blueprint.
Junz said the yet-to-be-named hatchery had successfully found the formula for hatching and rearing Sabah flower crabs.
“The hatchery is currently doing trial and error to constantly produce these flower crabs with good quality on a commercial scale,” Junz said.
He added that the goal was to develop the methodology of growing the crabs in natural deep sea conditions and to train villagers in crab farming.
Junz said the success in breeding the first generation of flower crabs was an important breakthrough for Sabah.
“It will become a game changer for our State whereby Sabahans will not only enjoy cheaper, quality crabs produced locally, but also become a main flower crabs supplier in the region,” he reckoned.
Once fully operational, he said the hatchery would be able to produce 100,000 baby crabs a month with the prototype.
“However, my target is to produce 500,000 crabs per month in order to quickly boost and develop this industry to help our rural villagers,” he said.
Besides this, Junz said the hatchery is also carrying out research and development (R&D) on other types of crabs, including three species of flower crabs and two species of mud crabs.
“We are still trying to find the right formula and continuing through trial and error to hatch other species of crabs, which includes a species of deep sea mud crab weighing at least one kilogramme each,” he disclosed.
He said the ministry would continue to support the private sector and join in its initiative to discover a breakthrough for the crab masterplan.