Kuala Lumpur (VNA) – Malaysia’s seafood catches have dropped sharply by nearly 300,000 tonnes since 2016 due to climate change impacts, according to the Department of Fisheries (DoF).
The DoF's statistics showed that country’s fishermen netted 1.57 million tonnes of fish and other marine species in 2016. However, the amount has fallen by 3% each year to 1.31 million tonnes in 2022.
The DoF earlier said that the outlook for this year is also gloomy. It anticipates that the impact of the El Nino weather phenomenon could cause a further drop by about 70,000 tonnes this year to 1.24 million tonnes.
It held that one of the reasons behind the drop from 2020 to 2022 for instance is due to the impact of COVID-19, explaining that the pandemic had caused changes in consumers' demand, market disruption, logistics difficulties, movement control order and lockdowns.
Last month, DoF Director-General Adnan Hussain called for immediate actions to address the decline. He attributed the drop to rising temperatures and acidification of oceans due to increasing carbon dioxide emissions in the upper atmosphere./.
The DoF's statistics showed that country’s fishermen netted 1.57 million tonnes of fish and other marine species in 2016. However, the amount has fallen by 3% each year to 1.31 million tonnes in 2022.
The DoF earlier said that the outlook for this year is also gloomy. It anticipates that the impact of the El Nino weather phenomenon could cause a further drop by about 70,000 tonnes this year to 1.24 million tonnes.
It held that one of the reasons behind the drop from 2020 to 2022 for instance is due to the impact of COVID-19, explaining that the pandemic had caused changes in consumers' demand, market disruption, logistics difficulties, movement control order and lockdowns.
Last month, DoF Director-General Adnan Hussain called for immediate actions to address the decline. He attributed the drop to rising temperatures and acidification of oceans due to increasing carbon dioxide emissions in the upper atmosphere./.
VNA
