Inno Fisheries enters large scale scallop business in Sabah

KOTA KINABALU: Inno Fisheries Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Yayasan Sabah Group, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Borneo Scallops Sdn Bhd here yesterday for the development of a new area for a proposed scallop farming pilot project.

Yayasan Sabah director, Tan Sri Datu Khalil Datu Jamalul, said Yayasan Sabah Group was impressed with the scale and method of scallop farming in Shandong, China which ensures a good yield on investment.

According to Khalil, the collaboration signified a milestone in the aquaculture industry in Malaysia, more so in Sabah.

“For the first time in Sabah, Borneo Scallops will conduct several scallop farming trials in our own waters, based on scallop culture practices in China.

“Currently much of the worldwide supplies for scallop are obtained from open waters,” he said in a statement yesterday.

At the signing yesterday, Inno Fisheries was represented by its chairman Andi F K Toyong and its director cum general manager Watie Ambu while Borneo Scallops was represented by its chairman Zhao Hui Ming and its director, Victor Teo.

Khalil said Sabah, located in the Coral Triangle, harboured more than 600 species of reef-building coral, or 76 per cent of all known coral species, and over 3,000 species of reef fish.

It also holds nearly 75 per cent of the world’s mangrove species, over 45 per cent of sea grass species, 58 per cent of tropical marine mollusks, five species of sea turtles and at least 22 species of marine mammals.
“This is an astounding level of diversity concentrated in less than one per cent of the world ocean’s surface area.

“The Coral Triangle is considered to be the global epicentre of marine biodiversity and a global priority for conservation.

“Hence, Sabah has been identified as aquaculture hub for Malaysia and has huge potential for investment in this sector,” he added.

Khalil said, “We have to look at sustainable aquaculture farming as our way to preserve the richness of our waters for the mutual benefit for our future generation.” He also expressed hope that the MoU would lead to a MoA whereby Inno Fisheries would work together with Borneo Scallops to create a joint-venture company in scallop farming.



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