Post-Conference Field Visits

 Field Trips (4 December 2004)

All participants and accompanying persons are welcome to join any one of the following field visits.

This day-excursion exposes participants to marine fish cage culture and earth pond culture in Penang and surrounding areas.

a)   Aman Island

A visit to two aquaculture sites near Aman  Island which are located about 35 km from the Conference venue and includes a boat ride (20-25 minutes).

i)      The Goh Siong Tee Seafood Suppliers Ltd. established about 10 years ago, cultures a variety of fish species such as sea bass (Lates calcarifer), grouper (Epinephelus sp.), snapper (Lutjanus sp.) and pomfret (Pampus sp.). The adult fish are exported to Singapore, Hong Kong and sold to local markets. Other companies also operate cage culture in the vicinity, including that by the Penang Farmers’ Association.

ii)     Aman Island is a 5-minute boat ride from the cages of the Goh Siong Tee Seafood Suppliers Ltd. This tranquil fishing village is without terrestrial motorized vehicle. Its small population of 252 people is dependent mainly on fisheries.

b)   Balik Pulau/Kuala Sg. Pinang

This tiger prawn aquaculture site near Balik Pulau, is about 30 km from the Conference venue. The Penn Shrimp company which operate the farm, was established about eight years ago. There are now twenty eight (28) earth ponds for tiger prawns and thirty (30) fish ponds. The fish species reared are sea bass (Lates calcarifer), groupers (Epinephelus sp.) and snappers (Lutjanus sp.).

c)   Ornamental fish farm

Penang is renowned for discus fish production and a visit to a nearby discus farm is part of the itinerary. Visitors will have a chance to observe the whole culture set-up for discus production as a cottage industry.

The Payar Island Marine Park is one of the earliest marine parks established in Peninsular Malaysia and consists of a group of four islands: the main Payar island, and the smaller Kaca, Lembu and Segantang islands. The marine park proper comprises the area 2 nm seaward from the low tide mark of these islands. It is located at the northern end of the Straits of Malacca and is just a two hours’ ferry-ride from Penang. It has a little bit of everything: clear blue sea with coral reefs and colourful reef fishes for snorkelers and divers to admire, white sandy beaches for the sun-bathers, and a short hike up a forested hill for a view of the Andaman Sea for the land-lubbers. The coral reef fishes are rather used to the presence of humans and swimming with them is a wonderful experience. Another interesting attraction is the juvenile black-tipped sharks that swim very close to shore to be hand-fed by tourists. Marine biodiversity is high here. There are more than 200 species of fishes. The main island of Payar is barely a kilometer in length, and it is uninhabited except for the park rangers and researchers. Visitors are allowed mainly for day-trips only. Just take home photos and wonderful memories! Limited to 300 participants only.

(The WorldFish Center, Universiti Sains Malaysia [Minden Campus], Malaysian Fisheries Research Institute, USM Muka Head Marine Research Station)

Participants will travel by bus from the hotel to Teluk Bahang located at the Northwest coast of Penang Island and hike (about 40 mins) through the Penang National Forest Park to the Muka Head Marine Research Station. A study tour of the teaching facilities, research laboratories and marine museum will be conducted. This will be followed by a trip to the Universiti Sains Malaysia Freshwater Aquaculture Research facilities. After lunch, a study tour of the research facilities of The WorldFish Center (formerly known as ICLARM) and the Malaysian Fisheries Research Institute, both located at Batu Maung, will be conducted

1. Kuala Lumpur City Tour (1st- 5th December 2004)

• Visit Putrajaya the new administrative capital city of Malaysia. See the well planned city with beautiful buildings against a backdrop of lakes and hills.
• Visit the largest shrimp farm in Peninsular Malaysia and savour the seafood in idyllic fishing village of Kuala Selangor, located about 2 hour-drive from Kuala
  Lumpur. At night witness the captivating synchronized fireflies that lit up the mangrove trees along a serene river in the nearby Kampung Kuantan.
• Largest shrimp farm in Peninsular Malaysia
• Visit the largest Tilapia farm in Malaysia, located about 1 hour-drive from Kuala Lumpur in a small town called Rawang.
• KualaLumpur city tour beginning with a stop at the famous Batu-Caves (caves in limestone hills) and visit the world famous Pewter factory. Including the world tallest twin towers before ending the tour.

• Hotel and Flight Reservation
• Please make your own hotel and and flight arrangement.
• You are advised to depart from Penang and arrive in Kuala Lumpur on evening of 4 December in order to participate in this tour.
• For accomodation, you can make arrangements with Pan Pacific Hotel (tel: 603 4042555 Fax: 603 40417236 OR email: sales.kul@panpacific.com or resv.kul@panpacific.com. OR visit www.hoteltravel.com/malaysia/kualalumpur/pan_pacific.htm
• For further information please contact Dr Sanjoy Banerjee: Sanjoy@vet.upm.edu.my
• 
  Download brochure here.

Copyright (C) 2003