February 24, 2004

Malaysia Set To Boost Aquaculture In Sabah

Malaysia's Assistant Minister for Agriculture and Food Industry Datuk Patawari Patawe said the country will aggressively develop aquaculture farming to boost Sabah's agriculture sector.

"Aquaculture plays a major role in the state's efforts to boost its food production," he told reporters last Sunday.

Dalian, which has 15 years experience in aquaculture ventures, has wide international networking which spans Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Philippines, Australia and West Asia.

On the jellyfish project, Patawari said it involved three phases - construction of a hatchery, jellyfish breeding and construction of a processing mill.

M-Square, in collaboration with the Sabah Agriculture Department, has set up a hatchery in Tuaran near Kota Kinabalu.

The Tuaran jellyfish hatchery, together with the one here, are expected to produce jellyfish fry for export to China, Japan and Korea.

Some 100,000 jellyfish fry were released into Sungai Merotai Besar at the function.