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OPEN SEA
FINFISH CAGE CULTURE PROJECT
THE PROJECT BACKGROUND
Langkawi
Sea Farms Sdn Bhd (LSFSB) is one of
the companies under the Halim Mazmin Group
which was given the privilege by the
Department of Fisheries, Ministry of
Agriculture, Malaysia to pioneer this pilot
project in modern opensea fish farming in
Malaysia.
The
project was officially launched by the
Minister of Agriculture Malaysia, YB Datuk Dr
Effendi Bin Norwawi in February 2000.
However, operations of the Opensea Finfish
Cage Culture in Langkawi started in November
1999.
Under
the National Agriculture Policy (NAP
1992 – 2020), commercial fish farming is
envisaged to play an important role to
contribute to the total production of marine
fish due to the depleting global fishery
resources as a result of over fishing.
LOCATION
The
farm is located at Latitude 60
13.20’ North and Longtitude 990
46.08’ East which is 0.03 nautical miles from
Pulau Dayang Bunting on the western coast of
Peninsular Malaysia
(Straits of Malacca). It is about 20 minutes
by boat from the Bukit Malut jetty.
The water depth is 22 meter – 23 meter and the
area is approximately 300m2. The
seawater has a temperature of 280C
and salinity from 29 – 32. The tides are good
which generates current of less than 1.5
knots. The weather is generally calm and
water is clean, clear and unpolluted.
PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION
The
project is carried out in 3 stages. The
first 2 stages will be in the nursery cages
for up to 4 months and then in the third
stage, transferred to the growout cages.
Harvesting of fish can be expected after 8 –
12 months culture period from fries of 2” to
marketable size of 500 gms per fish.
OPERATION SYSTEM
Cages
The cage system used are prefabricated HDPE
cages. Currently the number of cages LSFSB
have in operations are:-
a) 6
units of 50 meter circumference HDPE circular
growout cages with net depth of 8 meters –
capacity 20 metric tonnes.
b) 20
units of 6 X 6 meters HDPE square nursery
cages with net depth of 6
meters – capacity 4 metric tonnes.
Feed
The fishes will be fed with dry extruded
(slow sinking) feed which is available
locally as well as imported. This feed is
used due to its higher nutritional
properties, hygienic and longer storage life
span.
Other
Supportive Equipment
The back up equipment available for this
project are 1 operation
workboat with crane, workers transportation
boat, 1 automatic net washing machine, 1
steel pontoon (work barge) cum
accommodation, office and feed storage
facilities, 1 security hut etc
Farm Team
The farm operations team consist of :-
a.
1 Farm Manager
b.
6 General Workers
Type Of Species Cultured
a.
Seabass (Lates
calcarifier) – Siakap Putih
b.
Mangrove Snapper
(Lutjanus argentimaculatus) – Siakap
c.
Spotted Snapper (Lutjanus stellatus)
d.
Pompano (Trachinotus
blochii) – Bawal Emas
e.
Grouper (Epinephelus spp.) – Kerapu etc.
OPPORTUNITIES / PROSPECTS
The
Government of Malaysia, through the
Department of Fisheries, has been very
supportive of this project by introducing new
technology and new areas for development.
Investors
in this Government promoted industry is
eligible to apply for the 3F Fund
(Fund For Food) to finance the project at a
fixed interest rate of 4 percent per annum.
The
potential for this industry to grow into a
commercial scale entity is promising, given
the country’s good natural resources,
favorable climate, good infrastructure etc.
besides the strong support given by the
Government to see that this industry grow.
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Mission Statement
