Malaysia celebrates World Oceans Day with sustainable seafood guide

WWF 8 Jun 10;

Petaling Jaya – WWF-Malaysia and the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) launched the Save Our Seafood (S.O.S.) Campaign today in conjunction with World Oceans Day.

The objective of the campaign is to raise awareness on the status of Malaysian fisheries, where in some parts of Malaysia our demersal fish stocks have declined by as much as 90%, and to promote sustainable seafood choices through Malaysia’s first sustainable seafood guide.

The pocket-sized, bilingual guide in English and Bahasa Malaysia provides an insight into the sustainability of the 50 most popular Malaysian seafood species. The guide uses a simple traffic light system of categorising the seafood species: Green (preferred or recommended eating choice) Yellow (eat only occasionally) and Red (avoid eating).

“The seafood guide empowers the seafood consumers and businesses to make informed decisions in choosing sustainable seafood, which means seafood that is caught and farmed responsibly and does not cause damage to our marine environment,” said Dr Loh Chi Leong, Executive Director of Malaysian Nature Society (MNS).

Malaysians are the biggest consumers of seafood in Southeast Asia with an average consumption of 1.4 billion kg yearly. Our demand for seafood has resulted in a rapid decline of our fish supply due to overfishing. A group of fisheries scientists have predicted that globally in another 40 years, we run the risk of not having any seafood to eat, if we continue to consume indiscriminately.

Therefore it is important for Malaysians to start thinking about our seafood consumption patterns and how each of us can play a role to conserve our marine resources for future generations.

A survey commissioned by WWF-Malaysia showed that only a quarter of Malaysian consumers are aware of the declining fish supply in our seas. However, more than 70% of Malaysians are willing to reduce seafood consumption if they are aware that fish stocks are declining.

“It is important for seafood consumers and businesses alike to know where our seafood comes from because some are sourced sustainably and some are not, due to different fisheries management regimes in different parts of the world. At present, we are taking some of our fish stocks out of the oceans faster than they can be replenished. If this scenario continues, we may eventually lose all of our fish along with other marine life,” said Dato’ Dr Dionysius Sharma, Executive Director/CEO of WWF-Malaysia.

“We hope that seafood lovers in Malaysia will re-evaluate and eventually change their consumption patterns by using this guide as a reference when ordering or purchasing seafood. I will also promote sustainable seafood in my future programmes,” added Datuk Chef Wan.

The seafood guide is just one of the starting points of our marine conservation work which aims to eventually improve fisheries management and trade, beginning from the oceans to the plate.
The Malaysian sustainable seafood guide can be downloaded for free at www.saveourseafood.my. It is also available free of charge at both MNS & WWF-Malaysia’s HQ offices in Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya respectively and its branches, including Sabah and Sarawak, Little Penang Café outlets in Mid Valley, The Curve and KLCC and Eastin Hotel, PJ. Those interested to distribute the guide can also contact WWF-Malaysia or MNS.

In the spirit of World Oceans Day, let’s show our appreciation and support of our oceans. Spread the word, use the Sustainable Seafood Guide, and have a happy World Oceans Day!


Note to editors:
• A demersal fish is a fish that feeds on or near the bottom of the ocean. Demersal fish are also known as bottom feeders or bottom dwellers.

• World Oceans Day provides an annual opportunity for us to honour the ocean’s enormous contribution to our daily lives. Originally mooted by Canada on 8th June 1992 at the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the commemorative date was not made official until 17 years later when, in 2009, the United Nations officially declared 8th June of every year as World Oceans Day.

• WWF-Malaysia and Malaysian Nature Society would like to thank the following partners and funders for their great support for the SOS campaign: Datuk Chef Wan, M&C Saatchi, Synovate, Piradius Sdn Bhd, Shinjuru, TGV Sdn Bhd, Little Penang Café, Eastin Hotel, AsiaEvents Exsic Sdn Bhd, Department of Fisheries Malaysia, SEAFDEC Malaysia, WWF-Netherlands, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, University of Malaya, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Universiti Teknologi MARA and Percetakan Imprint (M) Sdn Bhd.

• We shall also be having a private screening of “The End of the Line”, the world’s first major feature documentary film revealing the impacts of overfishing on the world’s fisheries on 5 August at TGV, KLCC. Go to www.saveourseafood.my for more information on calendar of events.

Our appetite for fish may wipe them out
Evangeline Majawat New Straits Times 9 Jun 10;

PETALING JAYA: The mouthwatering ikan pari panggang and lekor would no longer be local favourites should Malaysians continue to fish the seas indiscriminately.

Our voracious appetite -- 1.4 billion kilogrammes of seafood every year -- is driving our fisheries to the brink of collapse.

Our local fisheries, worth RM5.8 billion, are showing signs of distress from overfishing and destructive fishing methods, especially trawling with reportedly lower catch rates, reduction of high-quality fishes and a higher yield of "trash" fishes.

In some areas of Peninsular Malaysia, fish stocks have declined to 90 per cent.

"At present, we're taking some of our fish stocks out of the oceans faster than they can be replenished.

"If this scenario continues, we may eventually lose all of our fish along with other marine life," said Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) Malaysia chief executive officer Datuk Dr Dionysius Sharma.

Aware that it is almost impossible for Malaysians to give up seafood entirely, WWF and the Malaysian Nature Society (MHS) released the first sustainable seafood guide yesterday.

The pocket-sized guide lists 50 popular seafood species in English and Bahasa Malaysia. Species are listed according to the traffic light system: red (avoid eating), yellow (eat only occasionally) and green (recommended eating choice).

The guide is part of the WWF-MNS Save Our Seafood (SOS) campaign.

MNS executive director Dr Loh Chi Leong stressed that the the campaign was meant to educate consumers on the sustainability of their protein sources.

"We're not asking Malaysians to stop eating seafood. We're asking them to make informed choices.

"The seafood guide empowers consumers and businesses to make decisions in choosing sustainable seafood -- seafood that is fished and farmed responsibly and doesn't damage the marine environment," he said

The sustainable seafood guide is available at WWF and MNS offices. It can also be downloaded at saveourseafood.com.my.

Malaysians urged to change choice of seafood to prevent depletion
Tan Cheng Li The Star 9 Jun 10;

PETALING JAYA: Skip the pomfret, grouper, coral trout, bream (kerisi) and tiger prawn. Go for the grey mullet (belanak), Spanish mackerel (tenggiri) and scad (cencaru) instead.

Green groups are urging Malaysians to change their choices in seafood in order to arrest further depletion of certain fish species.

To help them make the right decisions is the palm-sized Malaysia Sustainable Seafood Guide, jointly launched by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) yesterday.

Of the 50 most popular Malaysian seafood species, the guide recommends only 17. Malaysians should be wary of consuming 13 species while 20 should be avoided altogether (Download the guide at www.saveourseafood.my).

The guide, part of the Save Our Seafood campaign to mark World Oceans Day, was based on a 21-month study by fisheries experts who reviewed 383 fishery assessments covering 85 species.

Malaysians are the second largest seafood consumers (45.4kg per capita) in this part of the world, after the Japanese (64.8kg per capita). This eating preference is depleting the seas of fish.

“Most of the coastal fishing areas around peninsular Malaysia have been over-fished since the 1980s, as seen by low catch rates, reduction in high-value fish and increase in landings of ‘trash’ (low-value) fish,” said P. Gangaram, manager of WWF peninsular Malaysia seas programme.

He said demersal fish (sea bottom dwellers) stocks in some parts of the country had plunged by 90% over the past 30 years.

WWF executive director Datuk Dr Dionysius S.K. Sharma said: “At present, we are taking some of our fish stocks out of the oceans faster than they can be replenished,” he said.

The campaign has received the support of popular Malaysian chef Datuk Redzuawan Ismail or Chef Wan.

“We hope seafood lovers in Malaysia will re-evaluate and eventually change their consumption patterns,” he said.