Malaysian Commercical Aquaponics breeders are expected to produce 800 million ornamental fish for the world market by 2010
Department of Fisheries Malaysia director-general Datuk Junaidi Che Ayub said Malaysia was the second largest producer of ornamental fish and breeds more than half of the 550 local and exotic varieties. Last year, the industry was worth RM192 million.
"This industry offers attractive returns on investment to the breeders as the overall production cost is low," he said during the soft launch of the Aquafair Malaysia 2008 exhibition at the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park.
The four-day exhibition is organised by the department and will be held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre from Nov 20 to 23.
It is expected to attract more than 150 exhibitors from 10 countries.
Junaidi said the exhibition was aimed at boosting the export potential of the ornamental fish industry, aquatic plants and a whole range of supporting services.
Performing the soft launch ceremony was Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry's secretary-general Datuk Zulkifli Idris who read the speech by its minister, Datuk Mustapa Mohamed.
In his speech, Mustapa said the government aimed to harness the potential of medium and large-scale aquaculture by establishing more production areas and encouraging the participation of the private sector.
"Fisheries production is expected to grow to 507,558 tonnes of aquaculture products valued at RM5.07 billion by 2010."
This article is courstesy of www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Sunday/National/2323470/Article/index_html