TUMPAT: Recent news of a Langkawi restaurant selling sea bass (siakap) dish at an exorbitant price has captured the attention of fish breeders here.
Some of them were surprised by the news while others believed the restaurant owner had taken advantage of the situation.
Mohd Sufian Mohd Nordin said he found out about it after watching news on television.
"I was really shocked after hearing that a family who went to the popular tourist destination had to pay such a huge amount for the dish.
"I do not know whether they had been cheated but for sure, such price was just unreasonable," said Sufian, who rears more than 1,000 sea bass, here, since three years ago.
As a sea bass breeder, the 29-year-old said he believed the charge by the operator was unacceptable.
"I have supplied sea bass to restaurant owners in Kelantan and other states at only RM16 per kg.
"It is not wrong to hike the price of the fish a little bit, but not too much," said the breeder, from Kampung Jubakar Darat.
Another breeder, Mohd Azmi Ismail said sea bass sold by Kelantan restaurant owners would normally be much cheaper than those sold by Langkawi operators.
"So far, l have not heard of local food operators charging such high prices for sea bass even to visitors from outside the state.
"In some of the restaurants here, sea bass here cost less than RM100," said the father of two.
Azmi said although many have suffered losses due to Covid-19 pandemic, this was not the way towards recovery.
"Many of us are now in the recovery period but this does not mean that we can take advantage on our customers just to cover our losses," said the 50-year-old from Kampung Berangan.
Azmi, who breeds nearly 6,000 sea bass inside 30 cages in Pengkalan Kubor, said he would sell the fish once they weigh about 800gm.
"The sea bass here will normally weigh about 800gm up to three kilograms," said Azmi who ventured in the fish breeding business three months ago.