BY: Michelle Liew
Three friends from Kampung Belukar Bukit, Terengganu, have managed to generate income to cover their school expenses through their hobby of catching kelah fish seeds.
Such activities carried out over the past four years helped Mohd. Farizal Ikhwan Ismail, 11, Mohd. Syahril Akim Mat Nawan, 12, and Mohd. Syahrizal Aiman Abdullah, 14, to be independent and ease the burdens of their family.
Mohd. Farizal Ikhwan said that through his hobby, he and his friends have rarely asked for pocket money from parents, and even used the side income to buy school equipment including books.
The Sekolah Kebangsaan Betong student said that red kelah fish seeds are sold at a price of 40 sen each to a farmer in their village and during Hari Raya Aidilfitri, they are able to earn more than RM100 per person.
He said that he and his friends will proceed with their hobby every day after returning from school between 2 to 4 pm and continued on weekends around the Belukar Bukit Waterfall area.
“Only two equipment are needed, namely the filters to soak the fish and empty containers. The search process is not difficult because the habitat is in the crevices of rocks or piles of trees and in calm water areas.
“Usually within two hours, we walk through thigh-high water for about a kilometre and are able to catch about 350 fish seeds, all of which are sold directly,” he said as quoted from Utusan Malaysia.
Meanwhile, Mohd. Syahrizal Aiman, on the other hand, was able to buy a secondhand vehicle for his family’s use from the sale of kelah fish seeds collected over a period of several months.
He stated that he did not think that his hobby with his friends in the village would allow him to own a used motorcycle priced at RM800.
“Before this, there were some villagers who did the same routine but after the big flood in February, only we have continued with our hobby of catching kelah fish seeds,” he added.
