Netting whopper of a grouper

TELUK INTAN: Their dragnet felt extremely heavy but the three fishermen from Hutan Melintang did not think a live 183kg grouper fish was their big catch.

Fisherman Tan Eng Thiam, 45, said the incident happened about 11am yesterday when they were fishing in the Straits of Malacca coast near Sembilan island.

Tan said the machine lifting the dragnet to the fishermen’s boat experienced technical difficulties due to the heavy catch.

He said it was common for the machine to experience difficulties when the drag net got stuck on logs at the bottom of the sea.

“However we were stunned to find what we thought were logs was actually a giant grouper fish that was still alive,” said Tan.
The 2.1-metre-long fish was brought back to the beach near Hutan Melintang. They first sold the fish to a middle-man who later sold it to a restaurant operator for RM5,500.

Before yesterday’s big catch, the heaviest grouper fish caught weighed 163kg.

Source: The New Straits Times