Dry spell threatens fish farm

Praying for rain: Ibrahim cleaning a pipe to a fish pond at his farm in Gua Musang. — Bernama

GUA MUSANG: A pond fish breeder stands to lose RM500,000 when about 100,000 commercial fish of various species at his fish farm in Kampung Lepan Jaya here face the prospect of being wiped out as the ponds are drying up following the month-long hot weather.

Mat Nawi Hussin, 60, said that most worrying was the water level in a pond containing about 9,000 mahseer (kelah) which had dropped to 0.5m and there was no way to overcome the problem.

He said he depended on water co­l­­l­ec­ted from the hills to supplem­ent the needs of the ponds but now the supply was also drying up and inadequate to overcome the problem.

He said that the other fish on his farm were tilapia (40,000), silver catfish (patin) (30,000) and bigheaded carp (Tongsan) (20,000) which would mature for harvest next month.

“I am at a loss thinking of this matter because the mahseer pond is just starting to be productive as now each fish weigh from one to 3kg. They are sold around RM200 a kilogramme,” he said at his fish farm yesterday.

Mat Nawi said this was the first time he faced the prospect of losses due to the hot weather since he first ventured into fish farming over 30 years ago.

He said he would try to market the fish, especially the mahseer, as quickly as possible to avoid incurring a bigger loss.

“Mahseers are quite fragile and can easily die if there is not enough water in the pond,” he said.

He said the capital needed to install new pipes to channel water from the hills was also high but considered the matter as a challenge to him as a fish breeder.

“I have also constructed a new pond to increase the number of fish I breed but I have to put it off until this matter is settled and the rain comes,” he said. — Bernama