| James Kon |
MINISTER of Primary Resources and Tourism Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Ali bin Haji Apong urged enterprises in the fishery sector to support the aspiration of the ministry in ensuring sustainability of resources and implement good practices towards producing safe and high-quality products.
“This will not only benefit consumers but also help Brunei’s products to be accepted in the international market,” he said on the sidelines of the launching of Yamako Pacific (Brunei) Sdn Bhd’s tuna processing plant and fishing vessel Nakhoda 1 at the Fish Landing Complex in Muara yesterday.
Commending the pole-and-technology employed by the company to catch tuna, the minister said, “It is one of the recognised methods of catching fish that support resource sustainability because it is a selective fishing tool; it does not damage the seabed and has a low level of bycatch (non-targetted catching of fish that have no commercial value) compared to other fishing equipment.
“Such fish catching methods reduce the risk of overfishing and waste from bycatch. Such methods give time for fish resources to grow and recover. The ministry strongly encourages this type of fishing to ensure the continued availability of fishery resources for the future generation,” he noted.
He noted, “According to World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Food and Agriculture organisation (FAO) and the United Nations, over 85 per cent of the world’s fishery resources are threatened due to overfishing and fish not being given enough opportunity to breed. Therefore, through a number of international organisations, various initiatives have been implemented to help replenish the marine resources worldwide.
“Among the initiatives are Marine Stewardship Council certification and the use of eco label on packages of fishery products. The Ministry of Primary Resources and Tourism (MPRT) through its Department of Fisheries has outlined a number of policies to support management of sustainable resources and the transition to equipment and fishing methods that support sustainability along with combating acts that violate law and destroy fishery resources.”
The minister added, “Among the policies enforced by the department include regulating of fishing equipment by licensing, issuing warnings on the use of equipment and techniques identified to have damaged fishery resources and fish breeding grounds such as drift nets, harpoon guns, trawling, use of poison and explosives.
“To further ensure sustainability, the ministry also focusses on production of safe and quality products and implementation of good practices, such as the Brunei Good Aquaculture Practice (BGAqP) to ensure responsible behaviour of each aquaculture farm to prevent pollution of the environment and reduce risk of diseases, and the Good Agriculture Practices (GAP) to ensure that each agriculture farm uses quality and contamination-free products.
“Other programmes include the Good Husbandry Practices (GHP) to effectively ensure cleanliness to stop diseases and control contaminated products and pollution of natural environment. The Hygiene on Board (HoB) is another good practice in handling fish onboard a ship to ensure the quality of fish is always good and free from contamination. And there are Good Manufacturing Practices and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) to control the factory system to make sure the products manufactured are of high quality, safe and clean.”
The post Minister stresses on sustainable management of fishery resources appeared first on Borneo Bulletin Online.