200kg Fish Gone In 20 Mins!

Kota Kinabalu: The inaugural Sabah Anglers Association's (SAA) Fresh Fish Fair was a roaring success, Saturday, considering that over 200kg of fresh fish were snapped up in less than 20 minutes by eager buyers at the fish market in Tanjung Aru.

Many who came from as far as Tuaran and Kota Belud and had been waiting from as early as 7am for the fish fair to commence in order to buy formalin-free fish at current market rates or slightly less had to leave disappointed.

As soon as it opened, buyers rushed to the fish counters to get their hands on the frozen fresh marine varieties like Tenggiri, red snappers, groupers, trevallies, emperors, all of which had been weighed, priced and packed in clear plastic bags.

Even the live freshwater fish like black Talapia, Patin catfish and Golden Mahseer (Pelian) were also snapped up soon as they were unloaded from the aquarium holding tanks.

SAA President Datuk Wilfred Lingham, the brainchild behind the event, said he did not expect the response to be overwhelming.

"It proves we are right in that the public expect to buy fresh fish not tainted by formalin that is used to preserve corpses and is damaging to their health.

"Besides all these fishes were from sustainable fishing methods.

There is awareness, support and encouragement from the public towards our effort.

"Many called to ask whether they can book 20kg of fish but I said we only allow one packet of more than 2kg per household. Otherwise one person can just grab everything and it will defeat the purpose of this campaign."
Lingham also said the purpose of the Fresh Fish Fair was not to make a profit. "We are just selling fresh fish at similar prices as in the market.

The bigÉin fact very big difference is that we guarantee that the fish sold today are formalin free," he said.
He also said many people have asked him whether SAA could hold the event every month. "Much as we try, SAA members are not commercial fishermen.

"Unfortunately we can't do this as many of our members who go out to fish in the sea are recreational fishermen. When they go out to sea they have to take leave as they are working people with jobs and businesses to run.

"So we cannot go out every month just to catch and sell fish.

But, hopefully, I can sit down with my executive committee and see whether we can hold it once in three months.

"We don't normally sell our fish. The reason we are having this fish fair is because we want to create an awareness among the public what fresh fish looks and taste like.

"Today we sold 120kgs of marine fish and 100kg of fresh water fish within 20 minutes. Even though we said the sale would start at 9am people were here at 7.30am and since our fish was already pre-priced and pre-packed they were just waiting until 9am to pay.

"We hope we can continue this maybe for the next one year and people will understand and the authorities concerned will take note of it," he said.

A shopper named Chiew who came with his wife and child approved of the Fresh Fish Fair effort by SAA.
"This is a good thing and the prices are very reasonable.

In fact in some instances it was lesser than the market rate.

I am confident the fish is fresh as it comes from SAA.

If they have another sale, I will definitely come again to support it," he said.

Another shopper, Ho Lian Choon, who was there with his wife, said: "This event is a very good idea. They should have more soon and as often as possible. This formalin free fish fair is good for us consumers."

Another couple wasn't as lucky as they came a bit late. Kelvin Chung from Luyang said he and his were fed up of being cheated and buying formalin tainted fish at the markets.

"The fish that we buy outside is sometimes not worth the money because we had to throw them away when tainted with formalin.

"It makes you very angry because we paid good money for what we thought was good fish and end up being unable to enjoy it.

"So I'd rather come here even if it's a bit more expensive as I would be happy with it.

At least I know I am getting something which is worth the money. The government should do something about this.

There should be more enforcement to rid this formalin problem.

"If they have this fair again I will definitely come two hours beforehand," he said.



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