Largest catch in Malaysian waters

MALAYSIA- Fishermen at the Cecil Street market in George Town, Penang, have set another record, this time netting a 200kg grouper measuring 2.4m long.

The latest haul is believed to be the largest catch in Malaysian waters.

The previous record weighed about 195kg and measured 1.8m long, which was also caught by fishermen from the same market in December 2012.

Fish merchant Khor Swee Boon said the grouper was caught in the deep sea in the northern region near Kedah on Monday.

Mr Khor said: "It's very rare that you get such a big fish. We were lucky. We caught it around midnight using trawling nets. It took six men to haul the fish up to our boat."

Fishmonger Jit Budhathoki, 24, said the grouper was the largest he had sold.

He said: "I have never seen such a huge fish while trading here in the past six years. I wanted to keep the fish longer, but the deal offered by the seafood restaurant operator was too good to turn down."

BUYER

Mr Jit said he and his colleagues took more than an hour to cut the fish into pieces before delivering it to the buyer.

The fish was sold to cafe owner Chew Kean Ghee, who also sells fish head bee hoon at his coffee shop, for RM11,000 (S$4,250), The Star reported.

Mr Chew said he planned to sell a bowl of fresh fish head bee hoon soup for RM20 while the rest of the meat would cost RM15 a bowl.

"The fish can feed about 200 to 300 people," Mr Chew was quoted as saying.

Six years ago, a 180kg grouper was caught off Pulau Sembilan in Malacca Strait.

Last year, a 310kg grouper was caught near the Nansha islands in China. It was sold to a hotel in Dongyuan.

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