WWF: Eat farmed fish instead

KOTA KINABALU - With marine life dying and fish from the sea becoming acutely scarce, a conservation group is pushing for farmed fishing.

"Fish species, such as the leopard coral trout (locally known as sunoh) and the hump-head wrasse (mameng) are decreasing. Yet, people do not seem to care," said World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Malaysia conservation director Dr Sundari Ramakrishna.

"There would be no more fish in the sea if people don't start protecting marine life and fishermen do not change the way they catch fish," she said during a reef fish campaign here to encourage consumers to eat farmed fish.

Sabah Tourism Board chairman Datuk Tengku Zainal Adlin launched the campaign at the Tanjung Aru beach yesterday.

"Let us all start to conserve the environment," said Dr Sundari.

"Fish by using sustainable methods and make it a habit to choose farmed fish instead of endangered species of marine life," she added.

Tengku Zainal, the WWF Malaysia past chairman, urged fishermen to catch only "mature" fish and let the smaller ones go.

"If you stick to serving bigger fish, you can still earn a lot of money. The cake is still huge and there is enough for everyone.

"So, don't kill the small fish," he said, adding that over-fishing must stop and fish bombing and using coral-destructive chemicals in the ocean had caused fish stock to diminish.

Chefs from hotels and restaurants here came together to cook farmed fish at the event to show they were just as good as those caught in the sea.

Source: Asia One