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Malaysian Fisheries Development Authority says nation’s fish supply not stable yet
TAIPING, June 19 — The Malaysian Fisheries Development Authority (LKIM) has admitted that the country’s fish supply is not stable yet due to the uncertain weather conditions.
Its chairman, Datuk Syed Abu Hussin Hafiz Syed Abdul Fasal said that usually in the month of June, the weather would be back to normal but until now, it has been unpredictable, causing less fish landings.
“LKIM needs to take the early measure of acquiring as much fish as possible to be frozen during the fishing season and abundant fish landings by fishermen.
“It needs to buy fish from these fishermen so as to be frozen, not buying from the private sector to ensure sufficient stock during the monsoon season,” he said at a news conference after handing out the aid, Bantuan Kasih Suri Keluarga Malaysia at the P059 Service Centre open hall, here, today.
“LKIM has industrial plants and its own cold rooms for storage, so there’s no question of insufficient supply, hence overcoming the cartel problem.
“The cartel issue involving fish supply arose as LKIM did not make early preparations to keep fish stocks, resulting in the cartels taking advantage of the situation by reducing fish supply in the market and determining the prices,” he added.
However, he also admitted that there were internal problems when some LKIM officers took lightly, the proposed storing of fish stocks and he hoped that the agency’s top management would take appropriate measures against this. — Bernama