RAZAK AHMAD The Star 12 Jan 15;
TEMERLOH: The country’s ikan patin (silver catfish) capital here will not be able to live up to its reputation for some time.
The recent floods hit the patin caged fish breeding industry badly, causing an estimated 50% drop in supply, a shortage which breeders said would require them up to six months to recover from.
Despite the floods, retail prices remain fixed at RM15 per kg, meaning the breeders will have to fully absorb their losses.
There are about 200 breeders whose cages line an estimated 20km stretch of Sungai Pahang here, making this town and district famous throughout the country for the fish which many consider a delicacy.
The fish is still available here at food stalls and restaurants but operators say stocks have become limited after the floods.
“The floods this time was so severe that it uprooted trees and swept away cut logs. As these travelled downstream, they hit our cages and either broke them or carried them away altogether,” said Khaidir Ahmad, who has 38 patin cages along the river at Kampung Durian Tikus.
Khaidir, 52, was a TV3 employee who recently accepted the network’s mutual separation scheme to concentrate on his patin business.
Twelve of his cages, each of which contain up to 800kg of patin when the fish reaches maturity after six months, were swept away the floods, causing losses of more than RM100,000.
The floods totally submerged his house along the river bank.
Locals said the water from the river would spill over its banks every year during the November to March northeast monsoon, but the recent episode which started on Dec 25 was the worst since 1971.
Khaidir said the 200 breeders in Temerloh, who each have a minimum of 12 cages of patin as well as tilapia, all suffered losses.
Over the years, the water in the river has also become murkier, possibly due to increasing logging activities upstream, he said.
The post-flood outlook is bleak for many of the smaller operators such retiree Amran Alias, 57, a private sector employee who had used up all his Employees Provident Fund savings to set up four patin cages.
All his cages broke, and he was seen rowing a boat along the banks, poking a stick in the water in a desperate attempt to find his cages, each of which cost RM3,000 excluding the fish stock.
Some breeders had been planning to harvest this month to meet the increased demand for Chinese New year, but their fish are now all gone, said Mohd Taufik Abdullah, an employee working at one of the many stalls selling fresh ikan patin that line the road along the river.
His stall reopened for business on Thursday.
The floods damaged his equipment, including a fish cutting machine, and carried away his industrial refrigerator.
