Long-term pattern of the shrimp landing during the Covid-19 pandemic in the three major cities in Sabah, Malaysia. Michelin Collyen Jimmy, Madihah Jafar-Sidik*, Saleem Mustafa
Borneo Marine Research Institute, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS 88400 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
Abstract
Sabah is blessed with diverse natural resources, including a hundred species of commercial-value marine fishes. Establishing a movement control order during the Covid-19 pandemic may affect many social economics activities, primarily the fisheries industry. There are two aims of this study. The first aim is to investigate the long-term (21 years) shrimp landing pattern at Sabah^s three major cities: Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan and Tawau. The second aim is to determine the variation in abundance and diversity of the shrimp landing during Covid-19 in the study areas. The shrimp data are collected from the Department of Fisheries Sabah (DOFS). The result shows a fluctuating annual trend of shrimp landing, with the highest peak in 2010 with a total of 7,058.03 MT. Meanwhile, the lowest was recorded in 2003 (3,003.90 MT). Among the three cities, Tawau has the highest shrimp landings. There are 13 species of shrimp recorded from 2000 to 2021. There was a decline in the diversity of shrimp in Tawau in 2019 (before Covid-19), with 11 species which reduced during Covid-19 to 8 species in 2021. The abundance of shrimp indicated decreased during the pandemic. In conclusion, Tawau, surrounded by the Celebes Sea, indicated an apparent impact of shrimp landing during the pandemic compared to Kota Kinabalu (South China Sea) and Sandakan (Sulu Sea). However, this impact might relate to other factors such as supply-chain activities of fisheries.
