MERSING, Johor: With its extensive coastline, the fishing town of Mersing has always been a haven for diving and marine enthusiasts heading for the pristine and scenic islands off its shores.

Many people might be aware that Mersing used to be nothing more than just a rustic fishing town. However, over the past 10 years, the town has experienced gradual transformation as more and more people are jumping onto the swiftlet farming bandwagon. As a matter of fact, Mersing was not rich in fish and shrimp catches during the early years, and the people there were not involved in the fishing industry.

It was said that Mersing was named after a Sikh fugitive escaping from Johor's old royal town of Kota Tinggi. Since he was one of the pioneer of the town, the place was named after him. The early settlement, situated about three or four miles upriver from today's Mersing town, was under the jurisdiction of Endau at that time, and the local residents planted gambir for living.

Start of swiftlet farming industry: The general manager of a local swiftlet farming business Mr Xu Guanren told Guang Ming Daily the costal area of Mersing was a perfect site for swiftlet farming due to its weather and environment. As a consequence, many investors have flocked to the town due to the lucrative profits of this business. Many farmers have brought in their technology and swiftlet house designs in hope of getting the best returns for their investments.

The first phase of bird's nest production and breeding centre developed by the company has four separate buildings with a total of 28 swiftlet houses, and additional 34 swiftlet houses will be developed under the second phase.

Xu said his company planned to sell some of the swiftlet houses, with a long-term plan of offering one-stop services for the swiftlet farming industry, including marketing, imports and exports, along with eco-tourism development in a bid to stimulate the local tourism industry.

Sluggish development due to poor connectivity: Located on the east coast of Johor, Mersing is the least developed among the eight districts in the state. Due to the absence of highway connection, industrial development here is slow and many young people prefer to go elsewhere for better job opportunities.

Compared to other districts in the state, Mersing may still be in an early stage of development, but it is in no way inferior in terms of tourism resources. "Highway is an important infrastructure for social and economic development. The road links to JB and Kluang are still the old roads, and many potential investors have been put off by the poor connectivity and transportation infrastructure in Mersing.”

Local residents claimed that there were indeed industrial investments in Mersing, but owing to its poor connectivity, many of them had left after some time. Unless this issue is addressed, further developments would be constrained, they said.