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Fish Health & Disease Management |
The development of aquaculture in
Sabah is rapidly gaining pace as more and more investors
realised the many potentials of the local industry.
However, the development must be tempered with prudent
environmental management as well as the prevention of
fish and aquatic diseases.
The fish health program of the Department is comprised
of 3 main components as follows -
-
Management and
prevention of fish disease.
-
Technical
service with respect to fish disease and related
waters.
-
Control of the
import of live fish.
The management of
fish disease is provided for essentially in Part V of
the Sabah Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture Enactment
2005. This empowers the Department to take containment
measures and prevent the spread of fish disease if an
outbreak occurs. This law also places a number of
obligations on the farm owner where the disease occurs.
The prevention of fish disease is also supported by
implementing the Quarantine Regulations under the
Fisheries Act, 1985 as well as the above-mentioned
Enactment.
The Department
also regulates the importation of live fish. At times,
the Department will ban the import of live fish from
certain source/countries if disease epidemics occur in
these places. The Department also helps aquaculturists
in the prevention and management of fish disease in
their farms. These include advising them on preventive
measures, containment methods, disease identification as
well as treatments. |
