PORT DICKSON: The Department of Fisheris Malaysia (LKIM) and the Port Dickson Parliamentary office has allocated RM34,500 to 85 mussel breeders who were affected by pollution in the Port Dickson waters.
Negeri Sembilan Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Aminuddin Harun said LKIM channelled assistance to 45 fishermen registered with the Telok Kemang Fishermen’s Association while the Port Dickson Parliamentary office assisted 40 fishermen who were not members of the association.
According to Aminuddin, the assistance would help ease the burden of the mussel breeders whose income was affected by pollution.
“Most of the breeders were hoping to sell the mussels during the arrival of Syawal as an additional income since mussels would be in demand during that period. They were hoping to sell 150-200 kilogrammes that can fetch between RM1,200 to RM1,600.
“However, the contamination of mussels which has happened after six years and the bacteria will be active for a certain period,” he said after handing out the assistance to the mussel breeders in Telok Kemang, Pasir Panjang, here yesterday.
Aminuddin said the Port Dickson waters, especially in Pasir Panjang near here, is an ideal location for breeding mussels and that would help the fishermen to earn additional income.
Meanwhile, Fisheries Department deputy director-general (management) Wan Aznan Abdullah said tests carried out on samples collected for the seventh time showed that the toxin level found in the mussels was higher than the safety level.
He also urged fishermen who wished to breed mussels to register with the department and obtain a licence by paying RM30 a year.
On April 2, eight cases of food poisoning, then believed to have been caused by eating mussels, were reported in the resort town.
Checks and tests carried out by the Fisheries Biosecurity Centre showed the mussels harvested there had been contaminated by the prorocentrum, alexandrium and pseudonitzschia algae species. – BERNAMA
