The concern for poverty ecalication in the Fisheries sector
can be seen within the
Against such a background, the policy of siphoning off surplus fishermen and relocating them into alternative employment such as land settlement scheme, aquaculture and farming was given special emphasis under the National Agricultural Policy. the rationale underlying the above policy-decision is twofold: firstly, to gradually reduce the absolute number of fishermen so as to reduce the fishing pressure on the already overexploited fish stocks; and secondly, to encourage out-migration of surplus and marginal fishermen in an attempt to redeploy them into more productive employment, hence uplifting their socio-economic status. It is envisaged that some 30,000 surplus fishermen will be siphoned off gradually over the next 15 years. In this way, it is hoped that the fish stock available for exploitation commensurates with the number of fishermen exploiting it, particularly in the inshore waters.
In line with the broad policy goal of fishermen redeployment, the Lembaga Kemajuan Ikan Malaysia (LKIM), the government implementing agency, has accorded a high priority to the development of fishermen's relocation/ resettlement programmes. One specific programme in point is the Marine Floating Net Cage Culture Project at Sungai Merbok, Kedah. First started as an experimental pilot project between 1978–79, the project was implemented along the lines of the family unit concept 2 whereby the selected fishermen and their families were resettled in a new area and provided with houses and new livelihood in the form of culturing fishes in floating net cages. The project became fully operational in March 1981 and fishermen in groups of ten were resettled in stages. To date, some 100 fishermen and their families had been resettled, involving a total investment of about $2.45 million.
It is not unreasonable to suggest that a capital-intensive programme such as the Sungai Merbok project requires continuous monitoring and evaluation. Such exercise will be highly beneficial to the LKIM management for the following reasons: firstly, it provides early feedback on the progress of the project and on crucial problem areas; and, secondly, it offers early warning about implementation problems which require remedial action, including modification and review of the project. Furthermore, continuous project monitoring and evaluation would provide the LKIM management with valuable feedback and lessons that can be used for the on-going project implementation or for further planning.
It was against this background the LKIM requested FAO to provide technical assistance in the field of fishermen relocation/ resettlement programmes under the FAO Technical Cooperation Programme. After consultation with LKIM, Department of Fisheries, UNDP and other related agencies it was finally agreed that under the broad objectives set out in the original Project Document, FAO TCP Project, the Assistance to Fishery Development Authority Malaysia (TCP/MAL/4403) would carry out a review study of the Sungai Merbok Project as part of its project activities.
The principal objective of this Study is to examine and review the progress and performance of the Floating Net Cage Culture Project at Sungai Merbok, Kedah.
More specifically, the objectives of the Study are:
To identify and analyze the various problems and constraints confronting the Project;
To assess the financial performance of the project;
To draw implications from the present study with regard to the economic and financial viability of the Project;
To generate practical guidelines and principles for future planning, particularly with regards to project design, implementation and management.
Finally, based on the findings of the Study, it is hoped that some significant broad policy-implications for the further developmet of the fishermen relocation/resettlement programmes could be derived.
Net cage culture is relatively new in comparison to other aquaculture practices such as cockle culture and freshwater pond culture. It cannot be established for a fact how and when net cage culture started in this country. However, it is generally believed that floating net cage culture was first introduced to Malaysia in 1973 in Jelutong, Penang, by private operators. With the cooperation of biological scientists from the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), the project was first operated on an experimental basis for rearing groupers (Epinephelus tauvina). After three years of fruitful research, the project was provened to be techically feasible and commercially viable (Chua, 1973).
From the results of the pilot project carried out in Penang, it is clear that net cage culture is a good potential source of production and income to the fishing communities. For example, the results of the pilot project in Penang revealed that the net income of each fishermen from cage culture operation was estimated at approximately $294 per month. In terms of production and yield, it was shown that a grouper farm with a total area of 619 sq. meter could produce about 8 tons of fish or approximately 12.9 kg/sq. meter. This means that the average yield per hectare worked out to be in the region of 13 tons. Such estimation compares favourably with that of Chinese Carp Culture (3.5 tons/ha.), milkfish culture (1 ton/ha) or mullet culture (150–300 kg/ha.).
At the macro-level, cage net culture certainly has several distinct advantages. In view of the declining catches which has adversely affected the income of inshore fishermen and high incidence of underemployed or surplus labour, net cage culture appears to have promising potential. Siphoning off the surplus fishermen into net cage culture operations will not only provide them with new economic avenue to increase their income but also helps to relieve off the fishing pressure on overexploited resources, hence offering the remaining fishermen a better chance to improve their catch and income. Finally, production from net cage culture could contribute to the achievement of the government objective of increasing the share of aquaculture in total fish landings in order to fulfil the increasing demand. This is consistent with the broad policy goal of the National Agriculture Policy of increasing fish supply from aquaculture.
Despite its vast potential, however, the development of net cage culture on large-scale commercial basis has been somewhat sluggish. Today, there are only a few isolated cage culturre enterprises undertaken by private operators. 3 the majority of these private cage culture interprises are operated on small-scale family basis and are predominantly found in the States of Penang, Kedah, Johore and Terengganu.
In its effort to promote further development of aquaculture in the country, the Government through its executing agency LKIM, has been actively involved in net cage culture operation recently. However, with the exception of five projects which has been commercially operationalised, the rest of LKIM's net cage culture projects are either still in its planning or experimental stage. Details of these projects will be further discussed in the subsequent section.
Under the Fourth Malaysia Plan 1981–85, aquaculture has been chosen as one of the priority areas for development by LKIM. A total allocation of approximately $88 million to the Aquaculture Division of LKIM bears testimony to the Government's interest for the further development of the aquaculture programme. Accordingly, a total of 2,534 ha. has been either implemented or targetted for aquaculture development under the Fourth Malaysia Plan as shown in Table 1 and also Fig. I.
With the small-scale inshore fishermen as the main target group, the long-term objectives of LKIM aquaculture development programme are as follows:
TOTAL AREA (IMPLEMENTED OR PLANNED) FOR AQUACULTURE DEVELOPMENT LKIM 1975–85
| Culture System | Third M'sia Plan 1976–80 | Fourth M'sia Plan 1981–85 |
| (ha.) | ||
| 1. Brackishwater Fish | ||
Culture | 30 | 509 |
| 2. Cage Culture | ||
Marine Finfish | 8 | 10 |
Freshwater Finfish | 4 | 4 |
| 3. Cockle Culture | 690 | 1,400 |
| 4. Raft Culture | ||
Oyster | 4 | 4 |
Mussel | 10 | 10 |
| 5. Freshwater Fish Culture | 50 | 321 |
| 6. Hatchery | - | 14 |
| 7. Integrated Project | - | 262 |
Total | 780 | 2,534 |
Source : Institutional Support for LKIM Aquaculture Development Programme — Project Findings and Recommendation, FI: DP/MAL/79/018, FAO, 1984.
MAP OF PENINSULAR MALAYSIA
| Total Area 1,046 ha | Total Number of Cages 1,644 cages |
| KEY | |
| ■ | Freshwater Ponds |
| □ | Brackishwater Ponds |
 | Breeding Station |
| O | Cage Culture |
| • | Cockle Culture |
To raise the socio-economic status of fishermen;
To increase fish production and generate employment opportunities;
To increase per capita output and income of fishermen through the adoption of more efficient and new aquaculture techniques;
To reduce the economic imbalance of fishermen; and
To stimulate the establishment and expansion of the aquaculture industry in the country.
One of the projects most prominently featured among LKIM's numerous aquaculture development projects is the marine floating net cage culture. It is widely recognised that net cage culture is one of the most productive culture system with great commercial potential. At present, the species that are most suitable for net cage culture are sea-bass (Lates Calcarifer), estuarine grouper (Epinephelus tauvina) and mangrove snapper (Lutjanus argentimaculatus). So far, LKIM had implemented eight marine cage culture projects throughout the country. These projects have been implemented along the family unit concepts, although not all eight projects have achieved “full development” stage. A summary of LKIM's floating net cage culture projects is given in Table 2.
LKIM'S MARINE FLOATING NET CAGE CULTURE PROJECTS 1981–85
| Project Site | Allocation (M$"000) | No. of Cages | No. of Families | Date of Commencement | Status |
| 1. Pulau Aman, Pulau Pinang | 600 | 360 | 15 | Oct. 1981 | Partially Operationalised |
| 2. Sg. Merbok Kedah | 1,200 | 1,200 | 100 | Dec. 1982 | Fully Operationalised |
| 3. Lumut Perak | 600 | 360 | - | June 1984 | Planning |
| 4. Jubakar, Kelantar | 800 | 120 | 10 | Jan 1984 | Partially Operationalised |
| 5. Kuala Setiu, Terengganu | 1,200 | 720 | 20 | June 1982 | Partially Operationalised |
| 6. Kuala Penor, Pahang | 400 | 120 | 10 | Jan 1985 | Partially Operationalised |
| 7. Kuala Sedili Johor | 1,200 | 120 | 10 | Aug. 1984 | Partially Operationalised |
| 8. Penyalong Johor | 50 | 60 | 5 | Sept. 1984 | Partially Operationalised |
| 9. Pular Langkawi | - | 320 | - | Dec. 1984 | Planning |
| Total | 6,050 | 2,730 | 170 |
Source: Ibid
It can be said that the current LKIM's marine cage culture project, at least some if not all, have been successfully implemented during 1980–84. Further expansion of this project both in terms of number of cages and participants will be undertaken as planned. To date, a total of 170 fishermen's families had benefitted from the project, and the number is expected to increase to about 256 families by 1985. It should be noted that so far only the marine net cage culture project at Sg. Merbok has been upgraded into a resettlement scheme whereby fishermen-participants and their families were resettled into a new area. Similar projects have been planned for implementation in other suitable areas.
In addition to projects already implemented or targetted for implementation, LKIM in collaboration with Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) and Universiti Pertanian Malaysia (UPM), has also identified several sites throughout the country that are most suitable for marine floating net cage culture. Criteria such as water quality, current velocity, water depth, food source, shelter, pollution, availability of area, back-up facilities and other amenities and socio-economic considerations were used as basis for potential site selection. The sites 4 identified were as follows:
| Johore | 1) | Selat Tebrau |
| 2) | Teluk Bueh, Mersing | |
| 3) | Endau | |
| 4) | Teluk Sari | |
| 5) | Kg. Tanjung Adang | |
| 6) | Kuala Kukup, Pontian | |
| Perak | 7) | Kuala Kurau |
| Perlis | 8) | Kuala Sg. Bharu |
| Kelantan | 9) | Sg. Semerak |
| 10) | Tumpat Lagoon | |
| Terengganu | 11) | Kuala Setiu |
| 12) | Setul Patah Marang | |
| 13) | Sungai Merchang | |
| Pahang | 14) | Teluk Malong |
| 15) | Kuala Lumpur Penor | |
| Sarawak | 16) | Kuala Salak |
Of the 16 sites identified, 11 sites are deemed most suitable and have shown sufficient potential to warrant serious consideration for marine net cage culture development. These sites, in order of importance, are as follows:
The focus of this study is a review of the Sangai Merbok Marine floating Net Cage Culture Project involving fishermen resettlement. To obtain information for the study a variety of research methods were employed. It was felt that this multi-pronged approach would be most appropriate for gathering information not only on the formal aspects of the project but also on the informal environmental and personal factors affecting the project.
Details on the formal aspects such as project objectives, design, financing, organization and management were obtained from documents (board papers, reports, data tables, etc.) at the LKIM head office in Kuala Lumpur and the Project office in Sungai Merbok. Unstructured interviews and informal discussions were also conducted with officials at both these places for clarification and verification of the formal organizational aspects. It was also felt that the unstructured interview methods e.g. with the Project Manager, Supervisor and other project personnels would allow an assessment of the management capabilities. Information and advice were also sought from the Planning Division of LKIM at the head office.
For the review section, data were compiled from the progress reports submitted quarterly by the Project Office to the head office's Aquaculture Division. These records contained information relating to the financial performance of the project as well as the participants. Unfortunately, such records were available only for 1984 since no such records were maintained prior to this. Therefore, data for the financial evaluation could only be compiled for 1984. In addition, independent evaluation reports prepared by the Planning Division were also used as source of information for the Study. It should be categorically stated here, however, that the present study is not in any way prejudiced by the evaluation carried out by the Planning Division.
To gauge the extent to which the actual implementation of the project is affected by personal factors (differences in perceptions attitudes, commitment of participant, rapport and relationship with Project Staff), dialogue sessions were held with group leaders and participants. In this way, the consultants were therefore able to have informal talks and engage in participation-observation type of research approach.
Finally, a formal questionnaire which formed the principal information source for the study, was administered on the entire target population i.e. the fishermen-participants. The interviews were conducted from late February to early March 1985, and a total of 100 fishermen-participants were interviewed. From the questionnaire it can be seen that the main items of information gathered from the interviews are:
General information on the ethnicity; age, educational attainment, family size, marital status, etc. of the participants.
Socio-economic aspects, this includes information on occupational background of participants, experience in cage culture, employment status, production trends, yield, household incomes, expenditures, savings and assets, and socio-economic constraints/problems in increasing production and income from cage culture operations.
Technical aspects; incorporating information such as skill/knowledge in training in cage culture, access to technical information, time spent on cage culture operations, views on government's effort in disseminating technical information, discussions and interactions with Project Staff and fellow participants on technical constraints, views on cage design, need for re-designing of cages.
Physical aspects; includes information on losses/damages and their causes, use of artificial fish feed, feeding rates, infrastructure facilities needed, awareness and application of good culture husbandry (acclimatization, stock manipulation, cleaning, water analysis, predator control, etc.), stocking rate, mortality rate, optimum harvest size and crop cycle.
Management aspects; includes information on participants' skill/knowledge in management, recores keeping, simple accounting, etc.
Institutional aspects; includes information on Fishermen Association/Cooperatives membership, consultations and interactions with fishery extension officers, their effectveness, source of assistance and advice on cage culture operations; present marketing system and its problems, alternative marketing system, market value of species cultured, credit requirements and potential sources, purpose of borrowing, etc.
Additional informations on participants' perceptions on present socio-economic conditions, basic amenities in the resettlement area and their future were also gathered.
