THE Myanmar Trawlers Association (MTA) has announced its members caught 25 percent more fish and shrimp from Myanmar waters in the first five months of fiscal 2007-08 compared with the same period last year.

Fishermen pulled in 29,600 tonnes of fish and 3840 tonnes of shrimp from the Andaman Sea and Indian Ocean from April 1 to August 31, according to figures provided by MTA chairman U Maung Maung Soe.

This marked a combined increase of 6880 tonnes from the 23,040 tonnes of fish and 3520 tonnes of shrimp MTA members caught in the corresponding period last year.

“Despite some heavy rain and several storms this year, we have been trying hard to increase our catch so that we can meet our export target,” U Maung Maung Soe said.

Ocean fishing accounted for US$269 million – or almost 60pc – of Myanmar’s total fishery exports of $460 million last year, and U Maung Maung Soe said he hoped the MTA would play a leading role in the industry’s efforts to earn a targeted $750 million in 2007-08.

In July this year, Myanmar Fisheries Federation vice chairman U Han Tun warned that the country’s marine resources were being overfished.

“The maximum sustainable annual yield of Myanmar’s waters is about 1.1 million tonnes but our current annual catch from the sea is about 1.4 million tonnes.

“We need to manage marine resources so they will not be destroyed,” he said at the MTA’s first annual general meeting.

U Maung Maung Soe noted that rough weather this year had taken its toll on trawlers.

“From June to the end of August, a total of 47 fishing trawlers were lost or damaged due to bad weather,” he said.

The Myanmar Trawlers Association was formed in April, 2006 and has 142 members with a combined 364 fishing vessels.

There are about 30,000 registered fishing boats along the Myanmar coastline, according to the Department of Fisheries.