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Fattening fish on bits of chicken and veggie oils


KOTA KINABALU: With the aquaculture industry dependent on fish-based feed, a researcher has come up with a formula that uses poultry by-products and vegetable oils.

Dr Rossita Shapawi said the industry currently relied on trash fish, which is defined as fish with little or no commercial value.

"Trash fish is not sustainable for the long term and so we have to use artificial feed, but we don't produce quality feed. The imported feed is also expensive," said Rossita, who is with Universiti Malaysia Sabah's Borneo Marine Research Institute.

"I was keen to develop a feed that was not only profitable for aquaculture farmers but one which would also contribute to the environment.

"A quality locally-produced feed not only cuts costs but also lessens the pressure on wild fish stocks used for fish meal and fish oil production."
Her hard work has paid off.

Her study on "cost-effective feeds using a novel blend of ingredients for the culture of humpback grouper" resulted in two prototype dietary feeds, earned her a doctorate from UMS in August and netted a silver award at BioMalaysia 2008 in Kuala Lumpur last month.

Testing of the U-MS/SM2 feed found a 100 per cent survival rate of the humpback grouper with a final feeding cost of RM5.70 for every kilogramme of fish bred.

In comparison, the use of trash fish feed showed a mere 50 per cent survival rate of the same grouper species and a final feeding cost of RM15 for every kilogramme of fish.

Testing of the U-MS/SM1 feed showed a 95 per cent survival rate of the humpback grouper at a final feeding cost of RM7.94 for every kilogramme of fish, which was cheaper than a commercial diet in the market which led to the same survival rate but at a feeding cost of RM10.23.

"While we still use some fishery-based ingredients, the innovation here is to replace some amount of fish meal with poultry by-products and fish oil with palm oil and other types of vegetable oil.

"After we fed the humpback groupers, we analysed them for protein content, fat and body weight and the results were good.

"This is the trend now to look for sustainable ingredients," the aquaculture nutritionist said.

Rossita said the humpback grouper, also known as the mouse grouper, fetched more than RM300 per kg at seafood restaurants and that the species was chosen for the study because the institute had been able to breed it after years of research.

She said cost-effective feeds were critical in the success of any commercial culture of groupers as feed was one of the most expensive components in aquaculture.

The News Straits Times
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OKU miliki 17 kolam ikan air tawar

PEKAN 26 Okt. - Di mana ada kemahuan, di situ ada jalan.

Itulah perumpamaan yang sesuai bagi menggambarkan kegigihan seorang kurang upaya yang kini memiliki sebilangan kolam ikan air tawar hasil usahanya dalam bidang akuakultur di Kampung Tanjung Pulai di sini sejak lapan tahun lalu.
Dengan hanya berbekalkan modal permulaan sebanyak RM1,200 dan sebuah kolam ikan air tawar pada tahun 2000, Mohd. Khairi Othman, 31, yang kudung kedua belah tangan dan kaki sejak lahir, kini bergelar usahawan yang mempunyai 17 kolam ikan air tawar.
Lebih mengagumkan, Mohd. Khairi yang berkerusi roda dan terpaksa mengesot memasuki ladang ternakannya, mampu menguruskan kolam tersebut bersendirian dan meraih pendapatan ribuan ringgit sebulan.
''Aspek penjagaan harian seperti memberi makanan dan pemantauan saya lakukan sendiri.
''Bagaimanapun, saya akan mengupah beberapa pekerja untuk mengangkat ikan dari kolam," katanya kepada Utusan Malaysia ketika ditemui di kampung itu, baru-baru ini.
Mohd. Khairi yang masih bujang berkata, dia bertekad memulakan projek ternakan ikan air tawar tersebut apabila menyedari kekurangan yang ada pada dirinya dan berasa perlu melakukan sesuatu demi memperbaiki taraf hidupnya.
''Saya mula menimba pengalaman dengan membantu salah seorang saudara saya menguruskan kolam ikan air tawar miliknya di sebuah kawasan berdekatan kampung ini.
''Sejak itu minat timbul dan dengan bermodalkan RM1,200 serta sebuah kolam ikan yang dipinjamkan oleh saudara saya itu pada tahun 2000, saya memulakan perniagaan sendiri," katanya.
Mohd. Khairi memberitahu, ketika ini kolam ikannya mampu mengeluarkan lebih 600 kilogram ikan talapia dan patin bagi setiap lima bulan.
Menurutnya, pasaran ikan air tawarnya tertumpu di pasar-pasar basah di daerah ini selain orang ramai yang datang terus ke ladang ternakannya itu.
Ditanya mengenai rancangan masa depan, dia bercadang menambah kolam ikan sedia ada, sekali gus meningkatkan hasil pengeluarannya.
Tambahnya, kekurangan pada diri bukan halangan untuk maju dalam bidang yang diceburinya itu sebaliknya menganggapnya sebagai cabaran.
''Saya berpegang kepada prinsip bahawa setiap kekurangan pasti ada kelebihan," tegasnya

Utusan Malaysia