Aquaculture Can Ensure Food Security For Penang
By Ian McIntyre
May 2025 FEATURE
WHILE PENANG IS one of the smallest states in size, it is now the largest in terms of aquaculture production, with an annual output of 68 million kilograms of seafood. This translates to an annual wholesale value nearing RM1.5bil—another feather in the state’s economy.
There is more room underwater for aquatic growth.
Fahmi Zainol, the EXCO who oversees agrotechnology, food security and cooperative development says the potential for growth is bright because Penang plans to digitalise aquaculture; a digitalised system would allow farmers or fishermen to carefully plan their catches.
While the state will now also need to take into account the ill effects of the new and evolving tariff percentages imposed on Malaysian imports by the US, Fahmi says that a thriving farming and fisheries sector will help consolidate food security and subdue inflation.
In 2017, Penang Institute did a study on the agriculture sector. According to an executive summary by Negin Vaghefi, aquaculture has become increasingly important due to rising population and income driving demand for fish. This growth is partly a response to overfishing along the peninsula's western coast. While fish farming currently contributes minimally to the national GDP, it remains a significant supplier within Penang, and can act as a basis for economic diversification. “Aquaculture is expected to become a powerful income and employment generator and a high profit sub-sector. This is despite challenges such as resource constraints (land and labour), heavy dependence on imported raw materials, low-quality water, and vulnerability to climate change and disease.”
In 2015, Negin’s research showed that Penang’s aquaculture production gained the highest wholesale value among the states in the country. Brackish water ponds and cages constitute the majority of Penang’s aquaculture. Fisheries from brackish water have been contributing nearly 50% of the total fish production and about 69% of its value in Penang. Of these, sea bass and snapper recorded the highest production, followed by shrimp, cockle and other brackish water cages species such as grouper and mackerel—no surprises there as these fish are in high demand among Malaysians. Other aquatic life bred within the fish farms nested near the Sultan Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah Bridge are shrimps, cockles and ornamental fishes.
The state is poised to be a huge fish exporter in the region because of its closeness to the Indian Ocean, and its well-developed port and airport cargo transport facilities. Moreover, Penang is a major transportation and logistics hub in the northern region and the Indonesia-Thailand-Malaysia triangle, and it facilitates farmers in gaining access to the global market.
FARMED FISH DRIVING GROWTH
While aquaculture offers an alternative to over-fishing, many aspects of it require enhanced scientific knowledge and technological advancement to become a sustainable source of production and income generator. WorldFish Centre recently released findings highlighting how aquatic foods are vital to Malaysia’s food security, nutrition, economy, and livelihoods—both capture fisheries and aquaculture playing central roles. However, the sector is currently at a critical juncture. The new study shows that despite its critical role, capture fisheries has stalled while farmed fish and seaweed are now driving growth.[1] A study published in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems authored by scientists from WorldFish, the Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies (CEMACS) and the School of Biological Sciences at USM, and the Institute for Future Initiatives at the University of Tokyo finds that overfishing, habitat loss, and challenging governance and market environments have pushed capture fisheries to the limit.[2]
In 2022, wild-caught fish made up 69%of Malaysia’s total fish production. Unfortunately, output has remained flat since. In contrast, aquaculture which includes farmed fish, shrimp and seaweed, contributed up to 30% and continues to expand. Malaysia’s seaweed farming sector is now the single largest component of aquaculture, making up more than half of total farmed output. This low-cost, low-impact system has quietly become one of the country’s most promising blue economy success stories.
Cristiano Rossignoli, Research Lead at WorldFish said Malaysia’s aquatic food systems are facing both risk and opportunity. “Aquaculture in Malaysia still faces key sustainability challenges. However, it holds great potential to meet the growing demand for aquatic foods, especially as wild fisheries stagnate. To unlock this potential, smallholders must be supported to adopt sustainable practices,” he said.
Fisheries and aquaculture in Malaysia face rising costs, limited access to hatcheries, poor cold storage and processing facilities, complex regulatory processes and environmental vulnerability. Many are being squeezed out of the sector altogether.
Director of CEMACS, Aileen Tan said the findings underscore a need to adapt to shifting dynamics. “This research provides important evidence that Malaysia’s aquatic food sector is undergoing a structural shift. As wild fish production plateaus, it is essential to strengthen support for sustainable aquaculture especially for small-scale producers,” she said.
Malaysia’s fish self-sufficiency rate has dropped from 93% in 2019 to just over 90% in 2022.
While domestic demand for seafood remains high, the country is importing more fish than ever before. Results from the study show that major reforms to expand hatchery capacity improve rural infrastructure and support small producers is needed. It also recommends investments in research and development.
Even the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), in its latest report on the state of the World Fisheries and Aquaculture, mirrors the contention that traditional fishing is losing out to the cages concept of fish farming. Total fisheries and aquaculture production reached an all-time record of 223.2 million tonnes in 2022, 185.4 million tonnes (live weight equivalent) of aquatic animals and 37.8 million tonnes (wet weight) of algae, a 4.4% increase from 2020. 62% of aquatic animals were harvested in marine areas (69% from fisheries and 31% from aquaculture) and 38% from inland waters (84% from aquaculture and 16% from capture fisheries).
But like many other aquaculture habitats, Penang is facing high risks from sea pollution and climate change. Just last year, the late Zulfigar Yasin, on a boat trip to CEMACS, highlighted the issue about algae blooms that kill fish in net pens. “Did you see the fish farms on the way here?” he asked, “Unfortunately, I can safely say that the waters here will experience an algae bloom overnight, and if they do not farm the fish tonight, the fish will suffocate and die, leading to a huge loss.”
Algae blooms deplete the oxygen in the water, and because these fish have nowhere to swim to, they are left to die, unbeknownst to the fish farmers.
“There needs to be more education, and these farmers need technology, such as monitors to indicate water quality. If they know that an algae bloom is going to happen, the fish can be farmed and sold before it happens,” he added. Hence, managing wastes discharge and recycling are paramount in the protection of food security in aquaculture.
Footnotes
Ian McIntyre
is a veteran journalist with over 25 years of experience reporting from mainstream and alternative media. He subscribes to a belief that
what is good for society is likewise beneficial for
the media.
