MALACCA: The Malacca Fisheries Department has built and placed 28 artificial reefs off Pulau Besar at a cost of RM360,000 to increase the state’s fish stock.
The department’s director Rosmawati Ghazali said the 28 soft-bed reefs were specifically designed by its engineering division to suit the local seabed conditions.
“The reefs are scattered over a no-fishing zone off Pulau Besar and are part of the department’s programme to increase fish stock,” she said when launching the programme in Klebang Besar recently.
The 28 artificial reefs being prepared for placement at the no fishing zone.The department initiated the programme last year when 14 similar reefs were placed in waters off the island about 5km from the Umbai coast, she added.
Rosmawati said that each square-shaped perforated concrete reef weighed 18 tonnes and stood 3.6m high on a 3m x 3m base.
Meanwhile, State Rural and Agriculture Development Committee chairman Datuk Mohamad Hidhir Abu Hasan said the reefs would increase fish spawning by at least 30%.
There are about 143 fishermen who cast their nets off the coast here and they stand get better catches, he said, adding that similar programmes could be found in Terengganu, Perak and Penang.
The move to increase fish stock here was in line with the aim to boost the national annual harvest.
Currently, he said that deep sea fishing contributed 380,000 tonnes, aquaculture 508,000 tonnes and coastal fishermen 938,000 tonnes.