One million fish seeds for Kenyir Lake annually - Ronald Kiandee

As many as one million fish seeds will be released at the Kenyir Lake every year, said Agriculture and Food Industry Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ronald Kiandee.

He said the seeds would be provided by the Fisheries Department to the management of Kenyir Lake, Central Terengganu Development Authority (Ketengah) in stages to ensure that the area always has adequate stocks of freshwater fish.

"The ministry will continue to work closely to ensure that Kenyir Lake continues to be an agro-tourism attraction.

"Fish hatchery centres in Terengganu as well as in the neighbouring states will be used as dedicated centres to produce one million fish seeds each year and this effort will be part of the ministry's annual programme," he told reporters after releasing the seeds in Kenyir Lake, here today.

Lake Kenyir, which covers an area of 209,199 hectares, is famous as an agro-tourism and fishing area, but is now said to not have as many fish as the previous years.

At the event, 25,000 fish seeds were released, namely, kelah (500), temoleh (500), sebarau (1,000), and lampan (23,000) which were obtained from the Aquaculture Development Centre (PPA) Perlok, Pahang.

Kiandee said that Terengganu has its own strength in the field of fisheries and agriculture due to the close cooperation with various agencies and researchers including Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) which has expertise in the marine field.

He said that UMT role and studies would definitely have a big impact in ensuring the survival of the country's fisheries industry.

Kiandee, who was on his first working visit to Terengganu since his appointment in March, said that the state could also be one of the country's main food producers if all parties cooperated well.

"Terengganu is indeed one of the important states in fisheries resources.

"Of course there are other potentials that can be explored such as deep sea fishing to be used as a source of income for the state in the future," he said.

-- BERNAMA