KUCHING: The Sarawak Fishermen’s Association (Penesa) has been urged to look into the potential of Q’Fish to boost the state’s fishing industry.
The Q’Fish programme is a rebranding of eight types of fish. Previously it was known as “ikan rakyat” and the letter Q indicates quality (presumably making the fish more appealing).
Kembung (chub mackerels), selar (yellowtail scad), pelaling (Indian mackerel), selayang (sardine), cencaru (torpedo scad), aya (mackerel tuna), tilapia and keli (catfish) are the Q’Fish.
“Initially, we are going to focus on only four of the eight fish – kembung, pelaling, selar and selayang,” said Untong Keri, Deputy Director (Development) of the Fisheries Development Authority of Malaysia (LKIM).
Speaking at the opening ceremony of Penesa’s 34th annual general meeting at Wisma Penesa, Jalan Demak, yesterday, he said, “With this, we are going to mitigate the cost of living of the low-income people.”
Untong pointed out that Penesa’s annual report showed a decrease from the recorded profit of RM891,240 in 2017 to RM144,928 in 2018.
He said as a result the net profit of Penesa decreased from RM1,203.478 in 2017 to RM1,043,390 in 2018.
He then requested Penesa to draft new strategies while evaluating the weaknesses of the old ones.
He quoted Penesa chairman, Jam Hajimi, who revealed that only three outlets ordered Q’Fish from the Authority compared to hundreds in Malaya.
Hence, he hoped that more outlets would participate in the programme to expand the Q’Fish supply chain.
“For now, the Q’Fish is not even contributing one per cent of the quantity of sales by local fishermen. Although it is not confirmed yet, we have a target of 10 per cent.
“In the past, the Q’Fish supply was recorded at 300 metric tons a year which means that we have to work 10 times harder to achieve 3,000 metric tons this year,” he stressed.
The reason for the high target this year, according to him, was the need to keep pace with current movements in other places in the country.
Untong assured Penesa that they won’t be left to work alone because the ministry and LKIM will always help.
“The ministry ensures that the average ceiling price of Q’Fish is maintained at under RM10 for the sake of the low-income people,” he said.
Other challenges include the short supply of fish from the sea, so the government has stopped issuing fishing licences to encourage C2 category fishermen to work as far as 30 nautical miles out at sea.
Untong then urged Penesa to collaborate with the National Fishermen’s Association (Nekmat) on joint projects such as the establishment of a new factory for the production of ice at Tanjung Bako near here.
At the same event, Untong also launched Vista Tunku Fishermen Market where fish and other types of food (chicken, meats and vegetables, to name a few) are made available for sale.
During the meeting, Penesa revealed last year’s dividend of 10 per cent on the members’ shares totalling RM186,052; donation worth RM180,000 for members’ children education fund (for distribution to 18 associations) and RM26,085 in business “zakat” (obligatory Muslim tax for charitable and religious purposes).
Also present at the event were LKIM’s integrity director Azmi Othman, LKIM’s registry director Nik Rashid Nik Jusoh and Nekmat chairman Abdul Hamid Bahari.
