Marine Dept to have tiger prawn refugia trial run at Kuala Baram
MIRI: Sarawak Marine Fisheries Department will have a trial run of tiger prawn fishery refugia at Kuala Baram here this year, says its director Bohari Leng.
The proposed refugia is one of two identified and proposed by Malaysian Fisheries Department, focusing on the breeding of tiger prawn (Penaeus monodon).
Fishery refugia is a marine area or coastal line identified based on its space and geographical features, known as safe haven to breed or take care of protected marine species during critical formative period in their life cycle until they achieve optimum growth.
“The life cycle starts from the egg phase to nauplius, protozoea, mysis, postlarva, juvenile before reaching adult phase. A complete life cycle of a tiger prawn takes about 12 months.
“In Miri, the landing of tiger prawn between 2015 and 2020 was about 78.79 metric tonnes worth about RM5.6 million; 22.5mt in 2015, 2016 (17.8 mt), 2017 (8.59mt), 2018 (7.50mt), 2019 (10.25mt) and 2020 (12.09mt),” said Bohari in his opening speech at the talk on ‘Establishment of Tiger Prawn Refugia at Kuala Baram’ here yesterday.
He said refugia is set up to ensure tiger prawn can achieve optimum size and able to maintain growth consistency before being harvested.
“The place will be a safe haven that shall maintain consistent production of tiger prawn, to further develop it as a potential economic item and to increase the society’s awareness on the importance of preserving fishery’s ecosystem and resources,” he said.
He added researches had been conducted on the proposed refugia here since 1990s. It was found that most tiger prawn could be found eight nautical miles from Kuala Baram Beach. High concentration of juvenile tiger prawn can also be found at Sungai Pasu, Sungai Lutong and Sungai Bakam in Miri. They are usually caught by fishermen using traditional fishing method at Zone A (0-5 nautical miles) and Zone B (5-12nm) and also by commercial fishermen at Zone C (12-20nm).
The trial run will be conducted at the refugia that spans about 852 square km.
The implementation proper will only be enforced in the second or third year after the trial run.
The talk also heard two presentations by Bintawa Fishery Research Institute assistant research officer Nurridan Abd Han and Batu Maung Fishery Research Institute assistant research officer Norhanida Daud.
Nurridan presented a paper on ‘Tiger Prawn Refugia Kuala Baram’ while Norhanisa presented a paper on ‘Socioeconomy relating to Tiger Prawn Refugia Kuala Baram’.
The establishment of Tiger Prawn Refugia is also said to be in-line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that is supported and implemented by the Malaysian government.