Explore downstream sector, fisheries stakeholders encouraged

SIBU (Dec 27): The stakeholders in fisheries, including the workers, should explore downstream activities to help boost their income, Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing has suggested.

According to him, the downstream sector such as producing canned and frozen foods, could help address the problems in catch preservation.

“This (venturing into downstream activities) will open up more sources of income, in which you should be able to export your products to other countries with higher economic value,” he said at the Sarawak Fishing Vessel Association (SFVA)’s annual dinner on Monday, where Sibu Rural District Council (SRDC) deputy chairman Wong Ching Yong and the association’s chairman Harry Tan were among the guests.

Tiong, who is Bintulu MP and also Dudong assemblyman, said fishermen must start to be self-reliant and a way to do this would be to widen their sales channels for some high-value deep-sea fish in the local market.

He said the government had always provided various subsidies to assist the fishermen, but such one-way assistance could not become a long term solution to their problems.

Tiong also encouraged them to maintain friendly and cooperative relations with government department, especially with the Fisheries Development Authority (LKIM) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, for them to enjoy mutual benefits.

“Discuss with them (authorities) on ways to solve the problem of trading at sea before the catch reaches the shore,” he added.

Tiong also noted that despite the fishermen catching a lot of high-value and high-quality fish in Sarawak waters, the ones available in the local market would often be those of ‘relatively average value and average quality’.

“This is because the majority of fishing boats catch high-quality fish when operating in the open sea and such catch would already be sold at sea through other channels, while the relatively-cheaper catch would reach the local markets or restaurants once the vessels reach ashore.”

According to Tiong, Sarawak has a coastline spanning more than 1,000km, an area of 18.6 million hectares and is rich with marine ecology.

In this aspect, he reminded all fisheries stakeholders never to ignore the sustainable ecology of the seas and oceans.

“We must not overfish for the sake of making huge profits as this will damage the entire marine ecology, leading to depleted future catch,” he added.