IPOH: The Perak Fisheries Department will monitor the phenomenon involving thousands of anchovies leaping out of the waters onto Pasir Bogak beach in Pangkor from time to time.

Its director Noraishah Hashim said the incident occurred at 7.30pm on Saturday (Aug 14).

This followed an incident on Friday (Aug 13) where a small quantity of silver-type round herring fries was also found stranded on the beach.

She said many residents and visitors took the opportunity to collect the anchovies between 11am and 1pm yesterday, adding that investigations found that the rare incident only happened at Pasir Bogak beach.

“Fishermen in the area said large fish, especially the alu-alu fish (yellowtail barracuda) could be hunting the anchovies forcing them to jump onto the beach,” she said, adding that the bright lights in the area might also lure the anchovies to the beach.

She said fishermen and vessel owners told the department that their anchovy catch had increased several days before the phenomenon occurred.

Noraishah said the rezoning of fishing areas on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia in 2016 that created a conservation zone for fish breeding has shown success by increasing the number of anchovies in the area. – Bernama