Fish landing in Terengganu expected to rise this year

KUALA TERENGGANU, May 26 (Bernama) -- Fish landing in Terengganu is expected to rise to 34,000 tonnes this year compared with more than 31,123 tonnes recorded for the whole of last year.

State Fisheries Department director, Ruzaidi Mamat said they are optimistic about the figure because the number of fish landing has touched 11,837 tonnes for the first four months of the year.

“It is an increase of about 16.32 per cent compared with more than 10,177 tonnes for the same period last year.

"The re-emergence of foreign workers in the fish industry has also helped contribute to the increase in the number of fish landing because more vessels in zone C and C2 are now able to operate normally,” he said when met by reporters at the department's Aidilfitri celebration here today.

According to him, at the moment there are 8,635 fishermen and 2,798 vessels registered with the department while there are nearly 30 landing jetties throughout the state.

Ruzaidi said at the moment, fish supply and prices in Terengganu are still stable but he said the department is expecting the demand for marine food resources to go up in the near future.

“We believe fish will be the alternative choice among Malaysians after the price of chicken had skyrocketed recently. I hope all those involved especially the middleman will not take advantage of the situation to jack up the price of fish arbitrarily,” he added.

-- BERNAMA