Kim Kang Aquaculture Harvesting excursion by Arowana Club
Field Visit by members to Kim Kang Aquaculture - article by NSK & pictures by West


Nobody enjoys waking up in the wee morning hours on a Saturday morning especially when Saturday is a nonworking day for many ArowanaClub members. However, 33 ArowanaClub members woke up early on 6 December 2003, eager and excited to embark on a 3 hours long journey up north into Malaysia. Their destination: Kim Kang Aquaculture Sdn Bhd located in Batu Pahat, Johor. Their objective: to witness the harvesting of the world’s most expensive freshwater aquarium fish, the Asian Arowana.

Kim Kang Aquaculture Sdn Bhd is one of the leading arowana breeding farm in Malaysia. With 118 breeding ponds, Kim Kang Aquaculture Sdn Bhd is home to about 3000 arowanas and since it merged with Qian Hu Corporation Limited, Kim Kang Aquaculture Sdn Bhd has continued to produce top quality arowanas to meet the growing demand for this majestic fish.

We were introduced to the managing director of Kim Kang Aquaculture Sdn Bhd, Mr Goh Siak Ngan as well as Mr Yap Kim Choon of Qian Hu Corporation Limited.


Our hosts for the day, Mr Yap Kim Choon and Mr Goh Siak Ngan (right)

We arrived at the breeding pond where the workers were wading slowly through the knee-deep waters, covering every inch of the pond to guide the arowanas into the net.

Workers herding the arowanas into the net

Since not all the arowanas will have fries in their mouth, each and every arowana in the pond must be checked thoroughly for fries. Using a net ensures that no arowana can escape this visual inspection. Taking a closer look into the net, we realized that this pond was actually home to about a dozen golden cossback arowanas whose sixth level scales were sparking with gold shine.

Can you see the sixth level shine?

When all the arowanas were rounded up into the net, tall metal poles were erected in the pond to hold up the net to prevent the arowanas from jumping out of the net. As arowanas are naturally good jumpers, the metal poles need to be strong and high to stop the arowanas from jumping out.

Using metal poles to form a barricade

All eyes in the pond…

Taking a better look at the gold arowanas…

Mr Yap patiently explaining the whole process of harvesting to ArowanaClub members

 

>>> Part 2 - The Harvest

 

 


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