The frozen fish project undertaken by the Besut Fishermen’s Association, with the cooperation of the Malaysian Fisheries Development Authority (LKIM), has helped to stabilise the supply of fish in the east coast.

The association's chairperson, Che Ku Harun Tengku Ismail, said the sale of the frozen fish or ‘Q Fish’ is the new approach introduced to stabilise the supply of fish in the east coast, especially in Terengganu, since the project was initiated at the end of last year.

He said that since the project started, more than eight tonnes of fish such as cencaru (hardtail scad), tongkol (tuna), selayang (sardine), kembung (mackerel), and selar (blackfin scad) had been frozen and packed for consumers to ensure adequate supply of fish during the monsoon season when the east coast fishermen were unable to go out to sea.

“The technology for the freezing of fish was acquired from several Asian countries and the association purchased an Individual Quick Freezing (IQF) freezer costing more than RM1 million which can freeze fish in only 25 minutes,” he told Bernama.

According to him, the IQF machine was capable of freezing fish while maintaining its quality and freshness while fish stored using the old method of using salt and ice could not stay fresh for long.

“With quality packaging, 500 kg of fish can be frozen in an hour using the IQF equipment,” he said.

Che Ku Harun also said that with this method, the association, with the assistance of LKIM, was able to supply fresh fish to destinations farther away without worrying about the fish going bad.

He said the Q Fish project had also given positive returns to 1,600 members of the association who supplied fresh fish as well as for freezing.

- Bernama