Minister Visits Tutong Prawn Farms
TUTONG, 10
April 2007, Tuesday - The Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources (MIPR)
yesterday made a working visit to prawn farming sites in Tutong
District. Leading the delegation was Minister of Industry and Primary
Resources, Pehin Orang Kaya Setia Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Dr Awang Haji
Ahmad bin Haji Jumat.
Accompanying the minister
were MIPR Deputy Minister, Dato Paduka Awang Haji Hamdillah bin Haji Abd
Wahab; MIPR Permanent Secretary, Dato Paduka Awang Haji Mohd Hamid bin
Haji Mohd Jaafar; MIPR Deputy Permanent Secretary, Pengiran Hajah
Mariana binti PDNLDR Pengiran Haji Abdul Momin; Acting Director of
Fisheries Department, Awang Haji Abdul Halidi bin Mohd Salleh; Directors
and Senior Officers of MIPR; Technical Director of Integrated
Aquaculture International (IAI); and entrepreneurs in the prawn-farming
aquaculture industry.
The working visit was an
initiative by MIPR to show support and provide encouragement to local
businesses in the industry. It provided an opportunity for the top-level
decision-makers of MIPR to take a closer look at the prawn-farming
facilities, as well as to hear suggestions and operational issues faced
by the businesses. This gave a broader picture of the status of the
implementation of national development projects under the MIPR,
especially in the aquaculture industry. Three months prior to this, a
similar visit was made to the Brunei-Muara sites.
Aquaculture farms visited
yesterday included: Prawn hatchery in Kampong Kuala Tutong; Semaun
Aquaculture Sdn Bhd prawn cultivation site at 'Telisai Sungai Paku Fasa
1'; Usaha Asilati Sdn Bhd site at Kampong Keramut 'Telisai Fasa 1',
DuaODua Sdn Bhd site at Kampong Keramut 'Telisai Fasa 1'.
In addition, to push the
development drive of the industry, the Fisheries Department has employed
the services of international aquaculture specialists, Integrated
Aquaculture International from the USA. These experts will contribute
prawn larvae production technologies and prawn-nursery technologies to
keep prawns till they are ready for export. These expert contributions
are expected to resolve issues regarding production capacity,
consistency, quality, and prawn larvae mortality.
The MIPR believes that the
involvement of entrepreneurs is crucial to achieving targets aimed for
the aquaculture industry, where the sector has potential to contribute
as much as $200 million to the economy by 2025.
Towards realising this
effort, last year, 230 hectares were offered for expanding local
prawn-farming aquaculture industry that included 130 hectares in Tutong
District cultivated by six companies and 100 hectares in Brunei-Muara
District cultivated by seven companies. These sites are located in
Kampong Keramut, 'Telisai Fasa 1' (92 hectares), 'Telisai Sungai Paku
Fasa 1' (38 hectares), 'Pangkalan Sibabau Fasa 1' (50 hectares) and 'Pangkalan
Sibabau Fasa 2' (50 hectares).
Prawn sea farming in Tutong
District is a large part of the local industry that is cultivated on a
fulltime basis, contributing to 47 per cent of prawn sales in the local
industry. The preferred species cultivated is the Rostris prawn, which
is sold to the local market through fishmongers and seafood processing
factories. With the addition of 97 hectares of land offered in 2006, the
number of ponds rose by 100, thus leading to prawn production of 246
metric tonnes.
- Courtesy of
Borneo Bulletin -
