Department of Fisheries BN

The present Department of Fisheries was established in 1966. It started operations early the following year with 2 expatriate professional officers and 15 local staff. The department was then housed at the Royal Customs and Excise building at the centre of the capital Bandar Seri Begawan known at that time as Bandar Brunei. The office was then moved to the Churchill Memorial Building upon its comp

letion. The Churchill Memorial Building in addition to the Fisheries Department also housed, the Hassanal Bolkiah Aquarium with its freshwater and marine aquaria, and part of the Museums Department which included the Winston Churchill Museum. The Hassanal Bolkiah Aquarium was demolished in 1991 to make way for the Royal Regalia Exhibition and the Fisheries Department moved out of the building to a rented area at the Athirah Building Complex. The department moved to the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources building in March 1996 and finally moved to its own office building at Kompleks Perikanan Muara in May 2015. In the initial years of its operation, the bulk of the department manpower and financial resources (approximately 60%) were directed towards managing and running the HassanalBolkiah Aquarium and the running of a freshwater fish farm at Kampong Tungku in the Brunei/Muara District. The rest of the manpower and financial resources were directed towards servicing the artisanal capture fisheries. In 1991, Department of Fisheries had launched the Five Point Plan which focusing towardsthe development of integrated fisheries namely capture, aquaculture with its down-stream seafood processing activities, marketing and support services. Presently, the Department of Fisheries is structured to reflect and emphasize the thrust of accelerating development of the fisheries industry in line with the aspiration of the country to diversify the economy, as well as to fulfill the mandated roles and functions and to be dynamic and responsive poised to face continuing challenges.