Malaysia to transform fishing village into large shrimp park

Malaysia will embark on its MYR200 million (US$58.5 million) investment project at the end of 2010 to transform the remote fishing village of Setiu into the country's largest integrated shrimp park.

The Integrated Shrimp Aquaculture Park (i-SHARP) is expected to provide employment to 1,300 residents who currently depend on fishing for a livelihood.

The Chief Executive Officer of Blue Archipelago Bhd, Dr Shahridan Faiez, said the prawn breeding project sprawling over 1,200 hectares would be carried out in three phases.

The Department of Environment has given its approval to Blue Archipelago to carry out the project with strict conditions to prevent environmental pollution, he said.

The aquaculture park will also house a laboratory and breeding centre, and would rear high quality white prawns and tiger prawns for export to the EU, Japan and the US, said Shahridan.

About 10,000-12,000 tonnes of white prawns and 5,000 tonnes of tiger prawns would be produced annually, generating an income of more than MYR100 million (US$29.26 million), he said.

This project is a joint venture between the private sector, federal and state governments.