The government should be alarmed by the latest news reports that cockle production in the country has decreased significantly and is now on the verge of collapse. It was reported that annual production was 100,000 tonnes in 2005 but shrank to just 16,000 tonnes in last year; this is disturbing because it is affecting the bread and butter of stakeholders.

The scarcity of cockle production could also mean wiping out the seafood from our dishes, and posing a threat to the identity of our famous Penang fried kway teow, although not all fried kway teow bears the hallmark of using cockle as part of the ingredient.

Therefore, saving the cockle industry is not only preserving the bread and butter of stakeholders, but also preserving the pride and culture of Malaysians.

Pollution and over-harvesting have been cited as the reasons for decreasing production of cockle. Actions must be taken to prevent the industry from beyond rescue. Lesson must be learnt from the bauxite mining calamity in Pahang where agriculture lands were damaged, daily life was disrupted and people’s health was jeopardized.

Similar to the bauxite mining calamity, the cockle crisis now is not only about ringgit and sen; our national culinary pride now comes under threat.

Spawning seasons of cockle are said to peak from May to July and September to November. The Fisheries Department must enforce limited harvest during the spawning peak seasons, while the Department of Environment has to come in to help identify the sources of pollution and take action from there.

We need to also identify certain acreage of unpolluted breeding ground to be barricaded from any harvest to preserve the cockle survival in Malaysia and sustainability of the industry. Approaches similar to the turtle preservation initiatives can be adopted to save the cockle industry.

The cockle crisis is another example that agriculture, agro-farming and fishery sectors in our country have been neglected.

Governmental funding and resources have been focused on ambitious projects in the industrial sectors such as car manufacturing and steel production (Proton and Perwaja as classic examples), which we do not have the competitive advantage, rather than the agriculture, agro-farming and fishery projects where our country is blessed with fertile breeding ground.

It is never too late for the government to allocate more resources for the neglected sectors where we have the competitive advantage so that we can achieve better outcome compared to those resource-exhausting sectors.

SIM TZE TZIN is the Member of Parliament for Bayan Baru and director of strategy, Parti Keadilan Rakyat.