INDONESIA:Indonesia is developing tuna farming in the country’s bays in an effort to boost its aquaculture sector and ease the pressure on its world-leading marine tuna fishery.

The fisheries ministry said it was consulting with international fisheries experts about implementing tuna farming.

Indonesia’s archipelagic waters are key fishing grounds for several many tuna species, as well as spawning grounds for the fish.

Indonesia’s tuna fisheries is an important source of livelihood for coastal communities and a key source of food for consumers around the world.

LEGIAN — Indonesia is developing tuna farming in an effort to boost its aquaculture sector and lift some pressure from the world’s largest marine tuna fisheries.

Indonesia catches more tuna than any other country, accounting for about 16% of the world’s total tuna supply. However, intensive fishing of wild tuna from the country’s waters has made the fishery unsustainable, with much of Indonesia’s fishing grounds in the Pacific and Indian oceans already fully exploited, and many tuna species subject to overfishing.

The Indonesian fisheries ministry has over the years rolled out a string of measures to keep tuna production at sustainable levels, including by introducing harvest controls, monitoring certain species in a few fisheries areas, managing the use of fish-aggregating devices, and encouraging the fishers to achieve international-standard sustainability certification. To expand on these measures, the ministry is now looking into establishing tuna farms in the country’s bays.

“This can be a good thing if we can develop it in Indonesia,” Sakti Wahyu Trenggono, the fisheries minister, told reporters at a press conference May 24 in Legian, Bali. “No more massive tuna catching, but instead, an option is to catch them and then grow them for a certain period and give them high economic added value while also supplying protein demands.”

Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) has succeeded in establishing itself as a maritime campus by building the first marine  offshore aquaculture building in Indonesia

Sakti said catching wild tuna to be put into sea pens would require different skills and techniques than fishing them. He said he had consulted with a fisheries expert from Turkey and would reach out to others in Australia on tuna-farming techniques. He added the Turkish expert had highlighted Indonesia’s potential to become the world’s biggest tuna-farming country.

“We have many great bays across our country, but especially in the eastern parts,” Sakti said, adding that potential sites include Kupang in the East Nusa Tenggara province and Morotai in Maluku province.

Indonesia’s archipelagic waters are fishing grounds for albacore (Thunnus alalunga), yellowfin (T. albacares), bigeye (T. obesus), and southern bluefin tuna (T. maccoyii). Other areas around the country’s 17,000 islands are key spawning grounds for the fish.

Indonesia’s tuna fishery is an important source of livelihood for coastal communities in the country and a key source of food for consumers around the world. In 2021, the country produced 791,000 metric tons of caught tuna, valued at 22 trillion rupiah ($1.5 billion). Exports amounted to 174,764 metric tons, valued at more than 10.6 trillion rupiah (more than $710 million), destined mostly to the United States, Japan, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, the European Union, Australia, Vietnam, the United Kingdom and the Philippines.

The government is also pushing for more tuna fisheries in Indonesia to obtain sustainable certification and eco-labeling. Various schemes exist to certify that fish stocks are sustainable, environmental impacts are minimized, labor rights are respected, supply chain transparency and traceability are in place, and management is governed by best practices.

At the start of his second term in office, in 2019, President Joko Widodo ordered the fisheries ministry to boost the country’s aquaculture productivity. Global aquaculture production grew by 527% from 1990-2018, with Indonesia among the top producers worldwide. The country’s aquaculture output in the third quarter of 2021 was 12.25 million metric tons, a 6% increase from the same period in 2020. The aquaculture sector contributed the equivalent of $1.94 million in non-tax state revenue for the year to November 2021, well above the target figure of $1.39 million, according to the ministry.

Source:  Basten Gokkon/goodmenproject.com

MALAYSIA: Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) has the potential to be a leading aquaculture incubator in the country as it is the only public university that has facilities to be developed as fish and crustacean hatcheries.

Minister of Higher Education Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said the facilities at the aquaculture incubator at UMS Borneo Marine Research Institute are capable of producing hatchlings for the aquaculture industry in this country.

“This university is the only one that has this incubator and the ministry will pay attention to help empower this incubator, it not only meets the issue of food security in terms of fish supply but also gives opportunities to any party who wants to become an entrepreneur. 

“Breeding (of hatchlings) has been done (here) and has reached the stage where this (know-how) should be transferred to society,” he told reporters after officiating the opening of the Aquaculture Incubator building at UMS here today.

Also present were UMS Board of Directors chairman Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan and UMS vice- chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Kasim Mansor. 

The UMS aquaculture incubator began operating at the end of last year with eight marine fish breeding tanks, breeding or hatchling tanks (16 units) and tanks of various sizes for fish breeding.

It also has a treated seawater and freshwater supply system, ventilation system, research laboratory and administrative room. Meanwhile, Mohamed Khaled said the ‘Komuniti Bombon Marakau’ project in Ranau implemented by UMS was the best approach in trying to transfer knowledge to the local community and which should be emulated.

Earlier Mohamed Khaled witnessed the exchange of Memorandum of Agreements (MoA), firstly between UMS, represented by Kasim and Malaysia Kuwaiti Investment Co. Sdn Bhd (MKIC), represented by its Chairman Datuk Seri Dr Sabin Samitah (HE), and also with Yun Fook Resources Sdn Bhd (YFR) represented by its director Datuk Yap Yun Fook.

UMS, in a statement, said the MoA with MKIC is for integrated coconut cultivation, including the study of fodder production from agricultural organic waste, while the MoA with YFR is a project for integrated palm oil cultivation.

In a separate statement, UMS announced a research consultancy collaboration with Wong Akuakultur Sdn Bhd worth RM232,000 (USD 50k) for two years to study the potential of ‘duckweed’ as food for the ‘Chanos Chanos’ fish, also known as baulu fish among the local community of Sabah.

Source: Malaymail

MALAYSIA: Some 15 aquaculture entrepreneurs in Terengganu had accumulated RM410,000 (USD 88.160)  worth of losses due to the El Nino phenomenon.

Terengganu Fisheries Department director, Ruzaidi Mamat said that the effects of climate change were felt by aquaculture entrepreneurs from the Kuala Terengganu and Hulu Terengganu district.

Ruzaidi added that out of the 15, 12 aquaculture entrepreneurs from the Kuala Terengganu district suffered a loss of RM328,000 (USD 70530) when 22 metric tons of tilapia, baung and patin fish died suddenly.

“While in the Hulu Terengganu district, three tilapia, baung and catfish operators suffered a 10 metric tons loss involving seven cages with losses amounting to RM 82,000,“ he added during the Good Aquaculture Seminar “Back To Basics”, At the Fisheries Research Institute (FRI), launching ceremony at Tanjung Demong, Bukit Keluang yesterday (June 22).

He further explained that climate change had a major effect on global food production and the main threat to the quality and quantity of production especially for aquatic life.

“Seeding and caring for marine fish seeds, especially in Besut, has also been affected by the Viral Nervous Necrosis (VNN) fish disease.

Ruzaidi also said that the virus will attack the eye and brain of the fish until it loses its balance, starts swimming abnormally, loses its appetite and eventually dies.

“This disease will infect marine life (especially sea bream and grouper during its seeding stages). Early prevention is very important to sustain aquaculture,“ he added.

Source: The Sun Daily