Nurmalasari, 31, told Bernama that the dried-anchovy business run by her family since 1994 depends entirely on manual labour.

Her father sets out to sea as early as 3am to buy anchovies directly from local fishermen, paying around RM280 for a large basket, and returns home between 7am and 8am.

The fresh anchovies are then boiled for about five minutes before being sun-dried. Once dried, the anchovies are sorted by size, a process carried out collaboratively with her family.

After sorting, the product is ready to be sold to customers across Kunak, Semporna, Tawau, and other areas in Sabah.

“Typically, customers purchase between 100kg and 500 kg of anchovies a day,” said the mother of three. “We store them in jute sacks, each weighing around 23kg.

“All of our customers so far have been satisfied with our anchovies because they are clean, and we occasionally run out of stock due to high demand.”

Nurmalasari added that during the off-season, particularly in April, fresh anchovies are sometimes unavailable for processing.

Looking ahead, she hopes the relevant agencies can provide support in the form of a boat engine, a stove for boiling anchovies, and a sorting machine to speed up production.

“If possible, I hope to establish my own brand of anchovies and export them out of Sabah,” she added.