IPOH, Sept 9 — The Perak state government is planning to gazette former mining ponds for fishing activities in order to fulfill the fish supply in the state.
State Agriculture, Fishery, Plantation and Food Security Committee chairman Datuk Abdul Yunus Jamhari said the government will be introducing ‘Urban Fishing Concepts’ for the purpose, which he said will benefit selected in-land fishermen.
“A total of 110 in-land fishermen, who are household heads from the B40 group, will be able to increase their catch and the project will also help increase their socioeconomic status,” he told a press conference at his office in the State Secretariat Building here.
He said a total of 110 hectares of former mining ponds have been identified in the Kinta and Kampar district for the purpose.
“There will not be any structures in the gazetted ponds. Will keep the ponds as natural as possible.
“Our only aim is to change the existing fish species in the pond to the species which has high demand and value such as the red tilapia, silver catfish, golden shark and lampam,” he said.
Abdul Yunus said the state has allocated RM1.7 million for the development of the urban fisheries, which will be used for the purpose of cleaning the mining ponds, produce the supply of fish seeding, fish food and food storage.
“We hope we could implement the project by the end of this year. We will discuss the matter in our next state executive committee meeting,” he added.
Apart from that, Abdul Yunus also said that the former mining ponds will also be developed for recreational fishing activities which will attract sport fishermen.
“With the development of recreational fishing, agrotourism activities will also grow.
“Tourist areas can be developed with the concept of urban fisheries by including the construction of floating restaurants that can attract tourists to enjoy fresh grilled fish directly from the farm,” he said.
At the moment, Abdul Yunus said a total of 2,250 hectares of former mining ponds have been developed last year for fish breeding.
“We produced 25,000 metric tonnes of fish worth around RM122 million. In Perak, we have 180 fish breeders who are operating in former mining ponds,” he said.
He said there are a total of 512 in-land fishermen who are occupying former mining ponds around Perak and have produced 520 metric tonnes of fish worth around RM3.4 million last year.
