YANGON, January 7 (Xinhuanet) -- Myanmar catches over 1 million
tons of fish and prawn annually without causing extinction of them,
said sources at the country's Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries
Monday.
   The ministry is setting free fingerlings into rivers, streams,
lakes and dams, and to prevent extinction of fish and prawn, no
fishing zones like nursery ground have been designated with rules
and regulations issued with respect to fishing, it said.
   In addition, the government is giving all kinds of
encouragement to the fishery sector, aimed at promoting the
development of the sector, extending fish and prawn breeding using
modern techniques in catching, breeding, packaging, distribution
and production without causing extinction of them, the sources
added.
   Myanmar people mainly live on fish and prawn, getting 60-70
percent of protein from them and the annual per capita consumption
of fish of the Myanmar people increased from 18 kilograms (kg) in
1998 to 21.4 kg in 2001, signifying the country's high consumption
of fish by international standard.
   In the fiscal year 2000-01, Myanmar's fish and meat sector
contributed 7.5 percent to gross domestic product and its marine
products fetch about 200 million U.S. dollars of foreign exchange
annually, it disclosed.
   Myanmar, with half of its boundary as coastline extending as
long as 2,276 kilometers and abundant rivers, creeks and lakes, is
rich in inexhaustible marine resources. The fishery sector is the
third productive mainstay of the country's economy after
agriculture and forestry.
   According to official statistics, Myanmar exported 39,600 tons
of fish and prawn in the first eight months of 2001, a 7.9-percent
increase compared with the same period of 2000.  Enditem