7. Issues and Challenges in Aquatic Invasive Alien Species - Seafdec

4. Status of Aquatic Alien Species in
Malaysia
In Malaysia many species had been introduced as
early 19 th century but there is still no comprehensive
catalogue or coordinated monitoring programme of
IAS and thus no official statistics on the total number
and types of IAS for fish species. However, there
are lists of native and alien aquarium freshwaterfish
species, freshwater food fish, marine food fish,
aquatic plants and marine dinoflagellates
found in Malaysian waters.
4.1 Aquaculture (Food Fish: Freshwater
and Marine)
The rapid expansion of aquaculture has increased
the movement of live fish and other marine
organisms. Fresh water species has been estimated
to be around 522 species. The Malaysian marine
environment contains a diverse range of marine
organisms with over 4,000 identified species.
Appendices 1 and 2 show lists of freshwater food
fish and marine food fish in Malaysia, respectively.
The followings are some of the important alien fish
species for food in Malaysia:
1. Carps
Javanese carp or
Puntius gonionotus
Introduction of the Chinese major carps (grass carps,
bighead carp, silver carp and common carp) and
the practice of polyculture started in the 1800s
(Welcomme, 1981). The introduction was associated
with the immigration of Southern Chinese who
brought along the techniques of culture (Ang et al,
1989). It also marks the beginning of aquaculture in
Malaysia. The first successful induced spawning of
the bighead carp was reported in 1969 at the then
Tropical Fish Culture Research Institute, Batu
Berendam, Malacca (Chen et al, 1969).
The Indian major carps were introduced into
Malaysia between late 50s and early 60s. A total of
2,960 fingerlings were brought to Malacca in 1957
and 1961 (Khan and Jhingran, 1975). Catla, rohu
and mrigal were imported from Calcutta in 1960 and
raised at the Tapah Fish Breeding Station and later
part of the stock was sent to Malacca.
Javanese carp, known locally as ‘lampam jawa’, is
one of the most important freshwater fishes cultured
in the country. Described originally as Puntius
javanicus by Bleeker in 1850, it was reclassified by
him as Puntius javanicus in 1855 (Mohsin and
Ambak, 1983), and more recently as Barbodes
gonionotus by Rainboth (1981). The fish was first
introduced in 1953 from Indonesia (Welcomme,
1981) and was bred by DoF for distribution to fish
farmers. In 1992, some 120,000 Javanese carp were
released in mining pools, rivers and reservoirs
throughout the country. In an effort to expand the
gene pool, subsequent reintroductions of the fish
from Indonesia and Thailand, where the fish is known
as Thai silver carp, were undertaken by the
Government in the late 1970s and mid-1980s.
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