Frantic move to save farmed groupers during monson season

That was what motivated 30 hybrid grouper fish farmers in Laguna Setiu, Kampung Gong Batu, to transfer more than 100,000 fishes into special pool tanks following a drastic drop in water salinity at the river’s estuary.

The group’s representative, Johari Awang Besar, 60, said they were forced to transfer the fishes after the water salinity dropped rapidly until readings indicated that the water had almost turned into fresh water as a result of the high volume of rainwater from Sungai Setiu.

“If action is not taken immediately, the fish farmers would face losses of nearly RM500,000 as what they suffered during last year’s monsoon,” he told Bernama.

Work on transferring the fish began on Thursday and continued to yesterday as the salinity readings have been decreasing.

Checks revealed that all the fish had been transferred into covered pool tanks as well as open pools at several locations around Kampung Gong Batu and Kampung Fikri. They will be remain here for two weeks before being returned to their cages when the water readings return to normal.

Only hybrid groupers were moved while sea bass remained in the cages as they can adapt to a fresh water environment.

"The fish transferred were of various sizes, from 300 grammes to over a kilogramme each. Farmers were forced to engage workers for the transfer and incurred the high costs, including renting lorries,” he said.

Unlike the transfer undertaken by Johari and his group, fish farmers in Kampung Keluang, Besut resorted to selling their farmed fish early to avoid sustaining losses.

Fish farmer and wholesaler, Ismail Ab Rahman, 47, said he bought around 200,000 sea bass fry measuring 1.27 to 6.35 centimetres, reared by seven fish farmers there.

“Usually the fry would measure about 10 centimetres or more before they are sold, but farmers decided to sell them earlier to avoid the possibility of suffering losses should their pools be filled with excess rainwater.

“This (Kampung Keluang) is a centre for rearing sea bass fry which are bred as soon as they are hatched and sold when they reach a certain size,” he said.

The fish fry he bought will be transferred to a covered pool tank that was rented specially for the purpose, he added.