Forget the Seas, Fish in Your Backyard

By Chok Suat Ling

AQUAPONICS may sound like a fishy pursuit but it could be the solution to the problems of fishermen and farmers, CHOK SUAT LING discovers.

The Sungai Besar fishing community in Sabak Bernam has seen better days.

Its fishermen may haul in the largest volume of fish in Selangor, but they are not basking in satisfaction. They cannot afford to. Over the past decade or so, one fact has become increasingly and glaringly apparent: fish resources are depleting.

Sungai Besar Fishermen’s Association deputy secretary Chia Bak Long says this scarcity is not only felt by his community but around the country and even globally.

“It has affected our livelihood. Operational costs have also risen, as have petrol prices.”

At the same time, many new rulings are making things difficult, he claims.

The Department of Fisheries wants to introduce a 38mm net size, for example, but the fishermen are afraid this will let too many fish through.

“We will incur heavy losses. We want to use the current 25mm net,” Chia appeals.

He says the community will welcome an alternative means of income or any new technology that will help uplift their lot.

Farmers are also seeking an alternative means of income. Some, including those in the Kinta Valley, are facing problems since the licences for the land which they are leasing have expired.

For others like Ng Ah Tee, who farms in Sabak Bernam, any opportunity to earn more money to supplement his meagre earnings is a welcome prospect.

The MCA has been studying the plight of both fishermen and farmers and offers a solution: aquaponics.

It may be practically unheard of in Malaysia, unlike its much more popular cousin hydroponics. But its proponents say those willing to give it a try stand to gain high profits.

Aquaponics is simply aquaculture and hydroponics combined. Aquaculture involves raising fish in a contained system, usually tanks or ponds, while hydroponics is growing plants without soil.

Marry the two concepts and the result is aquaponics where fish is reared alongside plants in an enclosed, re-circulating environment.

It can be carried out on a commercial scale in a warehouse or factory, or, alternatively, at home in the backyard.

MCA Modern Agriculture and Biotechnology Bureau head Dr Chan Kook Weng says the fish waste provides the nutrients the plants need and the plants, in taking up these nutrients, help to purify the water the fish live in.

“It is a natural cycle. Waste material from one system becomes resource material in another system. It is very environment- friendly as wastes are not transported out of the system.”

The technology evolved in the United States some two decades ago.

The MCA is promoting aquaponics in a big way through Chan’s bureau. The party is hoping to encourage not just fishermen and farmers to take it up but also people in New Villages.

It is an alternative they can venture into with capital as low as RM2,000, says Chan, who is also senior research fellow at the Malaysian Palm Oil Board.

Chan says fishermen who set up aquaponics systems would not have to worry about depleting fish resources, overfishing, competition from illegal trawlers and other problems.

He also hopes to promote the option to those in the 450 New Villages around the country.

“Their economic activity is now limited and this will help bring them back into the mainstream,” says Chan.

Many young people in New Villages move out to cities and towns to eke a living, he notes. “With this new opportunity, we hope they will stay back.”

According to Chan, aquaponics is easy to learn, simple to manage, does not require much labour and turns out valuable products and byproducts like high-value organic fish and crops, fertiliser and biomass, which can be used as fuel.

The system also eliminates all soil borne diseases as water is used for planting.

Chan lists other benefits: “Power usage is low. Plant spacing can be very intensive, allowing one to grow more plants in a given space. Pesticides and herbicides cannot be used making the end product organic, safer and healthier. Crops can be grown all year round.”

Farmers could choose off-season crops, Chan suggests. They could plant tomatoes when it is off-season in Cameron Highlands, for example, so there will be supply all year round.

“It will also help Malaysia reduce its current RM1.3 billion food import bill.”

Besides the local market, selling high grade and organic fish to the US is a huge marketing opportunity. Singapore and Japan also currently import very large quantities of high-grade fish and vegetables, notes Chan. “We hope to attract big investors and will be showcasing a working model in November.”

Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman faculty of engineering and science’s Associate Professor Dr Gideon Khoo explains that aquaponics is an upgrade from the traditional integrated system.

“The traditional method involves rearing fish and livestock, and planting various types of vegetables in one farm. The water from the fish pond is used to water plants, and livestock manure is used to fertilise the plants and also the pond to produce the algae which the fish feeds on. Aquaponics, however, needs less land,” Khoo adds.

It also needs less water, experts claim. Water is only added to replace water loss from absorption by the plants or evaporation into the air.

The old method, Khoo notes, is also exposed to rain, floods and other inclement weather. “In an enclosed system, however, this threat is removed.”

Khoo’s colleague, Associate Professor Dr Alan Ong Han Kiat, urges fishermen especially to give aquaponics serious thought.

“Marine fish resources are becoming less, as they have noted. At the same time, the human population is increasing and the demand for fish is higher. It will also be difficult and unsustainable to rely on marine cultured fish alone.”

Aquaponics, however, presents several challenges. The first is identifying suitable fish and vegetable types.

For Ong, it is pointless to select fishes such as tilapia. “We need to choose high-end value fish. In Western countries, they rear salmon. In Malaysia, most high-end value fish are marine and it will be cheaper to culture them in the sea.”

Pilot trials must be carried out to identify the type of fish that can be reared, he says.

“The vegetables that can be planted would most probably be the leafy kind. They should complement the fish species selected,” Ong adds.

Another challenge, he points out, is training. “Fishermen and farmers must be trained to determine the parameters, water quality, nutrient concentration and other essentials.”

The supply chain is also crucial, Ong stresses.

“The authorities have to make sure the produce can be marketed locally and overseas. There is need to convince the people they are getting their money’s worth as they will inevitably need to pay more for it.”

Farmer Ng has attended some briefings on aquaponics and says, “We think it could work.”

And for fisherman Chia, aquaponics represents hope.

“If it all works out, it will keep our heads above water.”

(c) 2007 New Straits Times. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.