By Anne Salfarizan Mispani

KUALA LUMPUR, June 8 (Bernama) -- Land-based fish farming using state-of- the-art water recirculation system can be the answer to Malaysia's aim of achieving sustainable fish production and becoming less dependent on imports from Indonesia and Thailand.

Majuikan Sdn Bhd, a subsdiary of the Fisheries Development Authority of Malaysia (LKIM), is moving away from the conventional method of breeding fish in cages to the water recirculation system called Fish Protech developed by Australia.

LKIM chairman Datuk Adam Abdul Hamid said Majuikan had launched a Fish Protech pilot project costing RM5.8 million in Sepang which had six modules, each capable of producing 50 tonnes of fish a year.

He said Majuikan had imported 520 white perch and Barramundi species from Australia for breeding at the fish farm and planned to breed jade perch soon.

With the Fish Protech technique, a fish farm could harvest fish three times a year, he said, adding that the fish produced would be heavier, weighing 800gm and could fetch a market price of RM14 each.

"A Protech farm can harvest fish every four months compared to every eight months by breeding fish in cages.

"The conventional way is riskier since the cage could break loose and drift away during heavy downpour and rainy season.

"The Protech technique, on the other hand, is less risky since the breeding process is done in a building using tanks.

"The death rate is only five per cent in a Protech farm compared to 30 per cent using the cage method."

According to Adam, the Fish Protech is a fully-integrated, pollution-free water recirculation and filtering system.

It is also an energy-efficient system, relying not on pumps but on specific gravity to feed the water through. It is also completely chemical- free.

Adam said water pollution caused fish breeders to lose a lot of money due to fish dying before reaching maturity, while the Fish Protech technique would ensure that the tanks were free from chemical, oil and solid wastes.

Explaining how the system works, he said: "Virus in the water in the breeding and isolation tanks are killed with ultra-violet light and the filtering system.

"Breeders need not change the water for it would be recycled all the time.

"The tanks are inclined to enable the fish faeces to move to deeper areas to enable it to be removed by pump. The faeces can be used as manure for tomatoes and gourd.

"The temperature at the premises is maintained at 28 to 29 degrees celcius while the PH of the water at between 6.5 and seven.

"The fish fries are moved into the tanks, analysed for virus and quarantined in isolation tanks for 12 hours.

"The fish ready for the market will be isolated for three days and not fed to ensure that their stomachs are free from unclean matter."

He said besides being a breeding centre, the Majuikan's Fish Protech farm also housed a training centre for fishermen to learn the new technology.

Currently, the first batch of 20 Majuikan staff is undergoing a six-month training programme at the farm.

Adam said Terengganu had shown interest in developing such a project on a large scale.

According LKIM's statistics, from January to June 2005, Malaysia imported 171,450.34 tonnes of fish worth about RM856 million.

Of the total, imports from Thailand accounted for 105,618.33 tonnes and Indonesia 15,068.20 tonnes.

-- BERNAMA