26 September 2009 The current status and future prospects for the aquaculture industry in Malaysia Wing-Keong Ng1 Introduction The aquaculture industry in Malaysia contributed 268,500 t (about 16 percent) to the national seafood supply, valued at about RM1.3 billion (US$0.37 billion; DOF 2007). It has great potential for further expansion due to favorable government policies. This sector recorded annual growth rates of about 10 percent from 1993 to 2007. The presence of vast bodies of inland freshwaters and the long coastline in Peninsular Malaysia (West Malaysia) and in Sabah and Sarawak (East Malaysia) on the island of Borneo, also bodes well for future aquaculture development. Malaysia is also a major global supplier of ornamental fish and aquatic plants. Fish, shellfish and other seafood produced by the aquaculture industry contribute to both national food security and to bringing in foreign exchange for the country. The latter is especially true for high-value commodities such as farmed shrimp and marine fish which are mostly exported. Aquaculture of these high-value species has an important impact on the economy of the nation, including rural communities, by creating employment opportunities. Malaysians are one of the highest consumers of fish in the world with 58.4 kg per capita annually from 2000-2002 (FAO, 2006a) up from 25.9 kg per capita in 1969-1971 period. With increasing affluence and population growth, the increase in local seafood demand will have to come from the aquaculture industry considering the stagnation in marine capture fisheries. Malaysia is currently a net importer of frozen fish valued at about RM1.1 billion (US$0.31 billion) annually. In 2006, Malaysia imported a total of 395,458 t of fish and other seafood, and exported 258,500 t (Department of Statistics, Malaysia). Self-sufficiency in seafood supply was about 90 percent (Mohd Farid, 2006). This article provides an overview of the aquaculture industry in Malaysia with emphasis on its current status, new developments and future prospects. The current production figures for freshwater fish and shrimp, marine fish, marine shrimp, bivalves, seaweeds and aquatic ornamentals are presented. The various government policies and plans under the Third National Agricultural Policy for the expansion of the aquaculture industry are discussed. Current Status Freshwater aquaculture The sector contributed about 26 percent of the total aquaculture production in 2007 (DOF 2007) with production coming from various culture systems such as ponds, former tin mining pools, cages and tanks/pens (18, 4, 3 and 1 percent, respectively) totaling 70,064 t (Figure 1). The three major freshwater species farmed in Malaysia are tilapia, catfish and carp constituting 46, 42 and 7 percent of total freshwater aquaculture production, respectively (Figure 2). Other freshwater species include snakeheads (Channa spp.), marble goby (Oxyeletris marmoratus) and giant freshwater shrimp (Macrobrachium rosenbergii). About 32,023 t of tilapia was produced in 2007. Unlike other countries where Nile tilapia is the major farmed species, the major tilapia species farmed in Malaysia is the red hybrid tilapia (Oreochromis Fig. 1. Aquaculture production in Malaysia by culture systems in 2007 (DOF 2009). Fig. 2. Freshwater aquaculture species cultured in Malaysia in 2007 (DOF 2009).
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