BY TAN EWE HOE
PENANG: Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) and Bogor Agricultural University (IPB), Indonesia have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish an integrated marine environmental monitoring system to help boost the regional and local aquaculture and tourism industries.
The USM School of Biological Sciences Dean, Professor Dr Amirul Al-Ashraf Abdullah said, via the MoU, the two institutions aimed to create a more efficient and effective monitoring system to gain a better understanding of the marine environment and to replace the current traditional approaches to marine environmental monitoring which were deemed expensive, slow and relatively inaccurate.
“This agreement is also timely and is very much in line with the National Policy on Industry 4.0 known as Industry4WRD that was launched by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad recently as a call to the manufacturing sector and its related services to embrace Industry 4.0,” said Amirul in representing the USM Vice-Chancellor at the signing ceremony, which was held in conjunction with the opening ceremony of the 11th Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle University Network (IMT-GT UNINET) Conference 2018, held here recently.
Representing USM were Amirul and the Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies (CEMACS) Director, Professor Dato’ Dr Aileen Tan Shau Hwai, while IPB were represented by its Rector, Dr. Arif Satria and its Centre for Coastal and Marine Resource Studies (CCMRS) Director, Dr Ario Damar.
It was witnessed by the Penang Agriculture, Agro-based Industries, Rural Development and Health Committee chairman, Dr. Afif Bahardin.
Meanwhile, Arif said they hope to empower the fishermen through improved skills and knowledge, innovation and technology to enhance their productivity and efficiency for the aquaculture and fishery sector as well as to sustain the marine ecosystems, especially in this region.
