Two of the main operation constraints that plaqued the local culturists were the high cost and shortage of fish fingerlings. With the sharp increase in the number of cage culture farms over the recent years, supply of fish fingerlings from the local coastal water was no longer adequate. To meet the demand, alternavite sources of supply had to be found. Thailand and Philippines were chosen as alternative sources of supply due to their close proximity to Malaysia and their availability of fingerlings. With the fingerlings imported rather than caught locally, an increase in price was imminent. In fact, prices of fingerlings had increased three to four times over the last few years.
The fingerlings imported from these countries were also subject to transportational stress and they had to adapt to the local water condition in the cages. This resulted in a higher mortality rate. The problem could have been reduced or alleviated if the fingerlings were treated prior to stocking. However, none of the culturists did.
Another source of supply of fish for culture was from the hatchery. The grouper and snapper hatchery technique was not developed. The production of sea bass fry from the local hatcheries was yet to meet the demand because the technique of nursing the fry was met with constraints of the frys limited quantity, seasonality of supply and the low survival rate. Thus the production of fry from the local hatchery was insignificant compared to the requirement by the farms.
Another factor causing the increase in cost of production was the increase in the price of polyethylene net. The China-made polyethylene net was well-known for its quality and had been used by all the respondents. With the declaration of imported net as a controlled item and the imposition of import duty on this type of net, the price increased two to three folds. Furthermore, the net of mesh size less than two cm. had increased three to four folds within a period of 1 year because the solitary local company was not manufacturing net of this specification.
The cage nets were spoilt not only due to wear and tear but also to rats that bit and destroyed them. This particular problem was encountered by the Penang east coast farms where the nets were stored in platforms connected to land by a jetty.
The seasonal pattern of fish fry availability resulted in an annual peak in the supply of marketable cultured fish. This peak meant an annual glut notably between March and May when the culturists tried to push out their fish especially the grouper before it exceeded the preferred market size of 600g to 800g. Growth at this stage, being exponential, was very rapid. A grouper exceeding one kilogram would not be accepted in the live fish market as the meat texture had changed. The sea bass however did not exhibit such notable change in the meat texture.
The problem of diseases was experienced by all culturists. Not all the d seases were identified and the infected fish treated. For example, the cause and treatment of air bladder disease was not known. The non-symptomic mortality of 15cm sea bass fingerlings after several months of culture baffled the culturists. It lasted for about a week and disappeared mysteriously as it appeared.
The trash fish were used as feed and the culturists still faced with the problem of shortage of trash fish about four to five days per month. No alternative feed was used. There was no pellet feed available for cage culturists and the local manufacturers did not explore this possible market because of limited demand and the availability of cheap trash fish. Growth promoting hormone was not used in the feed either.
The culturists in general were faced with deteriorating market situations in the following areas:
With increasing number of cage culturists and demand for live fish remaining stable, an excess in supply over demand occured. Market of chilled fish on the other hand was also seriously affected with the input of cheaper sea bass and grouper from Thailand. The local culturists find it very difficult to compete with the prices set by the Thai culturists as the latter were able to get cheaper fry.
Seasonality in the availability of the fingerlings also led to uneven supply of marketable fish at different times of the year.
It had been widely held by local consumers that fish reared in cages were not as tasty as fish caught at sea. This could result in a lower demand for cultured fish due to local consumers' preference for captured fish. Although no significant shift in preference had been observed, it had implanted concern among the culturists of a possible drop in demand for their fish.
Export of cultured sea bass and snapper was limited even though there was demand for them in the foreign markets. This limitation was due mainly to the higher cost of price as compared to Thai fish.
