WWF-Malaysia organised its final seminar in the series, in an effort to promote and raise awareness among fish famers about the importance of sustainable marine aquaculture in Malaysia.
The series of seminars is an initiative by WWF-Malaysia to highlight the destructive and short sighted resource exploitation of Live Reef Fish (LRF).
WWF-Malaysia ensure the sustainability of the Live Reef Fish Trade (LRFT), the seminars were aimed at gauging the fish farming community’s opinion about establishing a Sustainable Marine Aquaculture Association.
The seminar was attended by the local community of cage culture fish farmers and representatives of several major aquaculture-based companies. In addition, keen interest was expressed from the hotel industry to source sustainably harvested fish for their restaurants and food outlets.
The establishment of a Sustainable Marine fish Aquaculture Association of Malaysia will enable members to work together towards the development of a sustainable aquaculture industry.
Efforts to promote and accelerate the development of a robust eco-friendly aquaculture sector will be underpinned by the principle of sustainable use and management of resources.
According to the Food and Agricultural Organization’s (FAO) report in 2000, the landings of marine capture fisheries have reached a historic high of nearly 95 million tonnes. Almost 75 percent of the world’s major marine fishing industry is now well over-exploited or fully exploited and is anticipated to be unable to produce higher output in the near future.
Furthermore, we are facing a decline in per capita fish supply from 14.6kg in 1987 to 13.1kg in 2000 due to increasing world population. Thus, sustainable aquaculture can be a viable alternative for the decline experienced by the natural fisheries – enhancing local food security, alleviating poverty and improving rural livelihoods.
Fish farmers in this seminar were exposed to environmental-friendly solutions and methods to be adapted into their farming practices. Other matters that were also highlighted in the seminar are government plans for the aquaculture sector, grants and incentives from the government to help farmers, potential markets and the increasing demand for sustainable seafood.