Fish farms: skills, sustenance for people in Maungtaw

October 23, 2017

To fulfil the urgent need for food sufficiency of Maungtaw residents following the terrorist attacks of 25 August, the Rakhine State government will fund freshwater fish farms in 82 villages in the township, according to the local fishery department.

In the immediate aftermath of attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), homes and entire villages were destroyed, thousands of residents fled and resources were depleted. For those who stayed and those who returned, there was an immediate need for basic sustenance, as well as jobs.

“The reason is to supply sufficient food to the local people. The surplus from the farming will be exported,” U Tun Tin of the Maungtaw District Fishery Department said yesterday. Digging a pond costs around Ks6.2 million, and one each will be installed in the 82 villages, he added. So far, fish ponds have been dug in five villages and 5,000 fingerlings have been released into each pond, said U Tun Tin.

The fishery department has also invited investors for the northern Maungtaw fish farms.

River catfish, a variety of carp of the Thai Burbus species, are already being farmed in freshwater breeding sites in the Maungtaw District.

Some of the 15,000 acres of prawn ponds in Maungtaw District are also converting to fish farming as a pilot business.

The deputy director also called for authorities to control sea fishing in the non-fishing season as part of an effort to prevent declining ocean fish resources.

Previous to this project, residents and fishermen in the coastal area were not widely accustomed to consuming fish from ponds, and fish farming was not popular in the area.

The fisheries department has a plan to offer freshwater fingerlings, fish breeding methods and other courses to the villagers as soon as possible.

The authorities hope that freshwater fish breeding will increase significantly within three years and will follow the success of fish breeding in the Yangon and Ayeyawady regions.

The fisheries department has already dug freshwater breeding ponds in Kayemyine, Shwebaho, Nanyakine, Myothit and Oo Daung villages among the eighty-two villages in the region.

When the first hatchery in Buthidaung was opened in 2013-2014 and in Maungtaw in 2015-2016, there were about 100 acres of fish farms in Maungtaw District.

Naing Lin Kyi, Thant Zin Win

Ref; The Global New Light of Myanmar