David Lyttle, the General Manager of Aquaculture from the Sealord Group Ltd of New Zealand, a deep sea fishing company, told Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman there is an increasing demand worldwide for such fish.
Daily Express of Malaysia reports that he said Sabah was ideal as cyclones and typhoons were absent in its waters, which is between 27 and 32 degrees Celsius, which is ideal for fast growing fish.
Tiger groupers would be ideal for Asian markets and sea bass as fish fillets for European markets, he said, adding such a venture would create thousands of jobs and training in deep sea fishing as well as transfer of technology of deep sea fish processing for the locals.
Mr Lyttle said this during a courtesy call arranged by the Yayasan Sabah Group's Fisheries and Food Industry Division, led by Director of Yayasan Sabah, Tan Sri Datu Khalil Datu Haji Jamalul, at Musa's office in Wisma Innoprise earlier this week.
He also briefed the Chief Minister on the possibilities of starting up a fully integrated marine finfish aquaculture project in Sabah, pointing out that half the fish the world consumed today were from aquaculture.
He added that the proposed project would include hatcheries, nurseries, ponds, sheltered sea cages, open ocean sea cages, fish feed mills and other related service and support of the industry.
Sealord Group Ltd started in Australia and has been in operation for the past 20 years, having established a marketing distribution system around the world for deep sea fish. According to Daily Express, the company supplies fish to eateries such as McDonalds, Sam's Club and Waitrose.
NZ Company Proposes Aquaculture JV Off Sabah
MALAYSIA - A major aquaculture joint venture has been proposed off Sabah because of its good climate and warm waters.
