Fish farmers speed up co-op plans

A group of fish farmers will fast forward a plan to form a cooperative, in the wake of a deadly plankton bloom that killed most of their stock.

The fish farmers, harnessing the strength of unity, want to pool information on the latest technology.

They may even go into business together, say, in trading seafood and to raise the profile of their industry.

The idea of a cooperative was floated in February last year, but the crisis late last month that wiped out 34 fish farms off Pasir Ris and Pulau Ubin gave it a fresh push.

Fish valued at about $3 million suffocated after a spike in plankton drained the seawater of oxygen, said the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA).

A group of 25 fish farmers – who are among the 34 affected – met yesterday in the Toa Payoh office of one of them, said their leader, fish farm owner Lee Van Voon, 43.

Other points they agreed on included a letter of appeal to Minister of National Development Mah Bow Tan, to be sent by next Friday.

They want help with restarting their farms, among other things.

Mr Lee said: ‘We realised from this crisis that on our own we are very vulnerable. We’ve got to band together.’

They intend to submit their business plan by next week to the Registrar of Cooperative Societies.

Mr Lee expects to have about 20 fish farmers off Pasir Ris and Pulau Ubin as members for a start.

He will also approach those in the West, off Lim Chu Kang, who were unaffected by the plankton bloom. There are, in all, 106 licensed coastal fish farms in Singapore.

Yesterday’s meeting also raised several concerns despite the AVA’s promise to help them, which it announced last Thursday.

Members of the group hope the Government will give them a grant or an interest-free loan to restart their farms.

They felt that the AVA’s offer to bear the cost of disposing of the dead fish and to help them replenish their fish stocks through bulk purchases was insufficient.

They want to know what the AVA will do to prevent similar incidents and when a plan for an early-warning system will be ready.

Also on their wishlist: more information on the AVA’s test results of the dead fish and seawater. Not all among them accept its explanation of a plankton bloom.

Mr Lee said these concerns would be in the appeal letter.

Goh Chin Lian

Fish farmers not back on their feet

The owner of this affected fish farm (above), Mr James Low, will have to wait six to nine months for new stocks of sea bass and garoupa fry to mature. -- ST FILE PHOTO

THE waters off north-east Singapore may have returned to normal following an overgrowth of plankton late last month, but life has yet to get back to normal for the farmers who lost their fish stocks as a result.

Many fish farmers contacted yesterday said they were struggling to raise the cash to buy new fish fry to make a fresh start of their businesses.

Some help is on the way.

Yesterday, the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) said it was taking several measures to help get the affected fish farmers back on their feet.

It will bear the cost of disposal of the dead fish and help the farmers buy good-quality fish fry at low cost through bulk purchases.

It will also continue monitoring the water and provide technical advice.

Expert help is also being sought to develop an early-warning system to try to avoid similar incidents in future, as well as to carry out research, develop technological solutions, and identify the triggers for plankton blooms.

Most farmers said that although this help was welcome, what they now needed most was financial aid to restart their operations.

Mr Phillip Lim, whose farm a kilometre offshore lost thousands of fish in waters starved of oxygen because of the plankton bloom, says he just does not have the money to buy new fish fry.

Others are determined to carry on the trade.

Mr James Low, 53, whose farm is about 3km off Pasir Ris Beach, has pumped in $10,000 to purchase 7,300 sea bass and 3,000 garoupa fry to restart his farm.

He said it would take at least six to nine months before the fish matured and were ready to go to market.

The bloom killed about 400,000 fish at over 30 fish farms off Pasir Ris and Pulau Ubin.

That number, said the AVA, is equivalent to 0.5per cent of the overall fish consumed here.

LIM WEI CHEAN

Bottle Trained

13 Jan 2010 Straits Times

Fish being fed with a milk bottle at the People’s Park in Nanning, the capital of south-west China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, on Monday.

The fish here are the hybrid offspring of Japanese carp and Amazonian fish. They are able to take their meals – food in powdered form mixed with water – by sucking on feeding bottles, from the age of two after a year’s training.

PHOTO: XINHUA

UN takes up fight against loss of species

Fishmongers in a Tokyo fish market checking out tuna fish for trade. The bluefin tuna has been listed by conservationists as a critically endangered species. -- PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

BERLIN: The United Nations yesterday declared 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity, to raise awareness of the loss of animal and plant species in the face of climate change and human encroachment.

‘In 2010, I call on every country and each citizen of our planet to engage in a global alliance to protect life on Earth,’ UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon said in a statement.

Launching the event, German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged industrialised and emerging countries to invest more in protecting wildlife. ‘We need a sea change. Here, now, immediately – not some time in the future,’ she said.

Research has showed extinction rates run at 1,000 times their natural pace due to human activity. Up to a fifth of plant and animal species risk extinction, according to experts, and nations have missed a goal set by the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) in 2002 to significantly slow the loss of biodiversity by 2010.

CBD executive secretary Ahmed Djoghlaf said it was essential to set new targets this year. ‘We have established a target and missed it… We have to learn the lesson to ensure that in 2020, we will not say ‘we have missed the target’.’

A large ongoing UN-sponsored study into the economics of biodiversity suggested that deforestation alone costs the global economy around US$2.5 trillion (S$3.5 trillion) each year.

The UN hopes some kind of legally binding treaty to curb biodiversity loss can be agreed at the CBD summit, to be held in Japan in October, BBC reported.

However, given the lack of appetite for legally binding environmental agreements as displayed at the Copenhagen summit, it is unclear just what kind of deal might materialise on biodiversity.

One third of the 1.8 million identified species are under growing threat. Among those destined to be hardest hit by climate change are the beluga whale, clownfish and the emperor penguin. The UN has been pursuing new ways of raising public awareness on the issue.

The first event will begin on Jan 21 in a meeting at Unesco’s Paris headquarters, which is expected to bring together heads of state and their representatives. More events will follow during the year.

‘We are facing an extinction crisis,’ said Ms Jane Smart of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. ‘The loss of… natural diversity that underpins all life on the planet is a serious threat to humankind now and in the future.’

REUTERS

Global economy headed up…and so are food prices

Policymakers under pressure as signs of inflation emerge

ECONOMIC growth has yet to make it back to a firm footing, but policymakers in Asia are already being confronted with another emerging challenge: inflation.

Oil prices have been rallying in line with the global recovery, hitting levels above US$83 a barrel earlier this week, near a 15-month high.

Food prices are also rebounding from their 2009 lows, potentially increasing price pressures in Asian countries that are already seeing asset bubbles build up.

This has led economists such as Action Economics’ David Cohen to predict that central banks in the region will have to start tightening monetary policy by the middle of this year.

This could include raising interest rates or appreciating their currencies.

Inflation recently peaked here at about 7.5 per cent in mid-2008. Runaway inflation, if it takes hold, can cripple an economy as too much cash, worth less and less, chases too few goods and services.

‘Countries like South Korea and India are more likely to tighten policy earlier as they are facing higher inflationary pressures,’ he said.

Mr Cohen thinks the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) may tighten policy – in Singapore’s case, this is done by letting the Singapore dollar return to a path of gradual appreciation from the current policy of zero appreciation – only in October.

Unlike other central banks, MAS does not set interest rates. ‘Inflation seems reasonably contained here right now, and the MAS may want to wait and see what other central banks are doing first,’ Mr Cohen said.

But Barclays economist Leong Wai Ho believes that inflation in Singapore may start rising more sharply in the second quarter of the year, raising the probability that MAS will move to let the Singdollar appreciate earlier, in April.

MAS reviews its monetary policy twice a year, in April and October.

Mr Leong believes inflation will hit 4 per cent for the whole year, above the Government’s forecast of 2.5 per cent to 3.5 per cent.

The official forecast may not have factored in the risks of rising food prices, he said. Food makes up about a quarter of Singapore’s consumer price index (CPI), the key measure of inflation. ‘Singapore is more open than most countries and almost everything we eat is imported,’ Mr Leong said.

One major example is Thai fragrant rice, the price of which has surged by 26 per cent since Nov 1, thanks to storms in the Philippines and drought in southern China, he said. ‘At these levels, we’re starting to see physical hoarding take place among Thai rice exporters, which means they probably have expectations that rice prices will go up even higher.’

And it is not just rice. Soya beans and edible oils like palm oil are also seeing a rise in prices, which in turn may make livestock more expensive since these crops go into animal feed.

While inflation still looks benign now – Singapore’s CPI in November inched up 0.4 per cent from October but slid 0.2 per cent from a year earlier – price pressures are likely to increase in the coming months, Mr Leong said.

Already, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation has said that global food prices are on the rise again, as its food price index rose for a fourth straight month in November and hit its highest level since September 2008.

In India, food price inflation has been rising almost 20 per cent over a year ago, coming close to an 11-year high, said a report by Bloomberg last Thursday. Monsoon rains in the June to September period, India’s main source of irrigation, were the lowest in almost 40 years, reducing production of rice, pulses and wheat.

Food prices are also rising in China – prices of vegetables shot up by as much as 10 per cent last week in some areas – as extreme cold weather damages crops and transportation problems hamper delivery.

fiochan@sph.com.sg

Plankton bloom monitored by AVA

I REFER to the letters, ‘Set up body to handle food crises’ (last Tuesday) by Mr Liu Fook Thim, and ‘A wake-up call for Singapore’ (last Friday) by Mr Winston Lee.

Plankton blooms can happen very quickly if the conditions are right. For example, a combination of factors like sudden shifts in the weather between bouts of sunshine and heavy rain; nutrients from the land washed into the sea by the rain; and little water exchange from rising and ebbing tides.

While the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) already has in place a programme to monitor the water quality in coastal fish farming areas regularly, there are currently no foolproof methods that can accurately predict an impending bloom.

The monitoring programme has to be complemented by good aquaculture practices, including preventive measures to minimise fish kills during incidents of plankton bloom. Such practices include avoiding overstocking of netcages under normal situations, and, in the event of a bloom, the capacity to lower stocking densities even further and having aerators and pumps to disperse the plankton bloom and increase oxygen in the water.

In the recent case of plankton bloom, AVA was alerted about fish deaths in the Pasir Ris Beach area on Dec 26. Investigations were conducted immediately and fish farmers were quickly advised on mitigation measures for plankton bloom. AVA officers were also at the farms daily to monitor water conditions and give technical advice to the farmers.

AVA will continue to work with experts and agencies to develop an early alert system that is tailored to local conditions to strengthen our monitoring system. We will also work with the farmers to strengthen their contingency plans, such as putting in place appropriate aeration systems to prepare for similar situations.

Goh Shih Yong
Assistant Director, Corporate Communications
for Chief Executive Officer
Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority
Ministry of National Development

Fish oil to help kids behave better?

Dr Daniel Fung holding a fish oil capsule. Earlier trials elsewhere found that aggressive youngsters behaved better after taking the health supplement. -- ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM

Music soothes the savage breast, poets aver. Some scientists now believe that fish oil can have such an effect too – on youngsters and aggressive young prisoners.

In a study in Singapore, fish oil is being given to children and teenagers with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and other disruptive behaviour, to test if it improves their conduct.

‘This study is the first of its kind in Singapore,’ principal investigator Daniel Fung said.

The study is led by the Institute of Mental Health (IMH), and Dr Fung heads its child and adolescent psychiatry department.

Earlier trials in Britain and

Holland found that children with coordination disorders and aggressive young prisoners behaved better after taking the health supplement.

Dr Fung’s team includes school psychologist and professor Rebecca Ang of Nanyang Technological University, and University of Pennsylvania criminologist Adrian Raine, who is running a similar trial with children in Philadelphia.

They are building on research – such as a study by Oxford University, in 2002, of more than 100 pupils with coordination and learning difficulties.

Those who took fish oil became more attentive, less hyperactive and less impulsive, among other behavioural and learning improvements.

The premise of such trials is that fish oil, found in the tissues of oily fish like salmon and sardines, is brain food.

It contains high levels of fatty acids believed to enable the brain to work properly, from being attentive to controlling impulsive behaviour.

But the precise process is still being explored.

In a paper published last year, anatomy professor Ong Wei Yi from the National University of Singapore found from tests on rats that anti-depressant drugs caused nerve terminals in the brain to release fatty acids.

These acids changed into compounds that could protect nerve cells in the brain.

The IMH, however, said the use of fish oil is currently not a standard treatment for children with disruptive behaviour disorders.

These include defying parents and teachers, and engaging in fighting, stealing or other anti-social activities.

Such disorders are estimated to affect just below 5 per cent of primary-age children.

The usual prescription is to train parents to manage their children. Those with ADHD also receive medication.

The IMH’s fish-oil study will involve 600 patients, aged nine to 16, who have sought treatment from its Child Guidance Clinic. About 30 have been recruited so far and are undergoing the trial.

To prevent bias in the experiment, researchers do not know which group – experimental or control group – the participants belong to. The patients are also not told which group they are in.

Half of the patients are randomly assigned to take capsules with fish oil, in the form of Omega 3 fatty acids. They take four capsules a day, for six months.

The other half are given dummy or placebo capsules filled with sunflower oil, plus a tinge of fish oil.

Dr Fung said: ‘The placebo has to taste like fish, so people won’t know it’s a placebo.’

Half of all patients will also receive training in social skills such as empathy and anger management, to see if the combination of fish oil and such training is more effective than either approach alone.

The study, which has an $890,000 grant from the National Medical Research Council, is scheduled to be completed by the end of next year.

chinlian@sph.com.sg

A wake-up call for Singapore

8 Jan 2010 Straits Times Forum

FISH FARM WOES

I REFER to recent reports about fish farms off Pasir Ris Beach and around Pulau Ubin being hit by plankton bloom. About 20 floating farms lost 300,000 fish worth about $2.7 million.

This should be a wake-up call for Singapore which depends on food imports to feed its growing population of 4.98 million. With climate change playing havoc with weather patterns, food producers will be increasingly at the mercy of nature’s whims.

As recently as 2008, there was a shortage of rice. Leading rice-exporting countries Thailand and Vietnam became protective, banning exports. I hope Singaporeans have not forgotten this.

Singaporeans consume an estimated 100,000 tonnes of fish a year. Local foodfish aquaculture accounts for about 5 per cent of this. Yet this 5 per cent is what Singaporeans hunger for – tropical fish like grouper, seabass, snapper and lately, cobia.

Appetite for fish is growing too – especially saltwater fish, which is high in Omega 3 fatty acids and heart- friendly. Nutritionists often recommend a regular diet of fish over meat.

Singapore has limited space for fish farming as most of the sea is reserved for shipping lanes. Singapore fish farm industries are considered small with most struggling to remain viable.

Fish farming is capital-intensive and fraught with unknown risks. Grouper takes about 18 months to grow, seabass about one year, sea snapper about 11/2 years and cobia one year. Repeated injections of funds are needed to buy feed for the fish to grow.

Now, fish farmers off Pasir Ris and Pulau Ubin have woken up to find their prized fish stock wiped out, along with their much-anticipated income through sales for the upcoming Chinese New Year. After a year of hard work and thousands of dollars spent, they are left high and dry.

Right now, what they need is financial help, to tide over this difficult time. The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) should reach out to the affected farmers and explore with other government agencies how to support them in their hour of need.

And, as suggested by Mr Liu Fook Thim on Tuesday (‘Set up body to handle food crises’), AVA should also consider setting up an alert system to monitor oxygen levels in the sea and warn of potential dangers.

Winston Lee

Dearer fish for reunion dinner

Mr Owen Lau, manager of Ah Yat Seafood Market, showing some live garoupa for sale. Restaurants may look overseas or sell other kinds of fish to cope with the shortage. -- ST PHOTO: CAROLINE CHIA

7 Jan 2010 Straits Times

Shortage of tiger garoupa as demand rises in the Year of the Tiger and plankton hit farms

Jessica Lim

THOSE who want a taste of the tiger garoupa this Chinese New Year are likely to be hit by a double whammy: The fish, usually already more expensive during this period, is set to be priced even higher.

The striped fish is a mainstay on reunion dinner menus due to its quality and relatively low price compared to other types of garoupa, say importers and distributors.

The surge in demand during Chinese New Year typically pushes prices up by about 15 per cent at restaurants – from $58 to almost $70 per kilogram, at an averagely priced restaurant.

However, two other factors are likely to push prices up even higher this year.

First, restaurants have lost a key supplier.

A plankton bloom hit fish farms off Pasir Ris and Pulau Ubin two weeks ago, depriving the fish of oxygen. About 20 floating farms reported a combined loss of 300,000 fish, more than half of which are tiger garoupa.

This number makes up 75 per cent of the total tiger garoupa production in Singapore.

Many of the fish were destined for restaurants here during the Chinese New Year next month.

Another factor that could spike price rises even further is the fact that the tiger garoupa, already popular during the festive season, is likely to be even more so this time around – the next lunar year is the Year of the Tiger, and many Chinese feel the dish will be auspicious.

‘There will be some shortage of the fish, especially since demand is so high during Chinese New Year,’ said Mr Dennis Ng, co-owner of Jong Fresh which supplies the fish to about 50 eateries here.

‘We will get more fish from Indonesia and Malaysia, but prices will definitely go up.’

The 33-year-old predicts that prices will be about 20 per cent higher than they were during Chinese New Year last year.

Another supplier, Mr Ong Sing Seng from Seng Seafood Supplies, which supplies about five tonnes of the fish to Singapore every month, reckons that this year’s supply of tiger garoupa will come mostly from Malaysia or Indonesia.

‘Almost all the local supply of tiger garoupa is gone,’ he said.

Some restaurants, wary that prices may put the dish beyond the reach of their patrons, are thinking of taking the fish off their menus altogether.

Marine Parade’s Roland Restaurant and MacPherson Road’s Ming Kee Live Seafood are among them.

‘If prices go up too high, we will definitely switch to some other fish that are cheaper, and will stop selling it,’ said Mr Thomas Tan, Roland Restaurant’s manager. ‘We will sell it only if customers ask us to bring it back and are willing to pay more.’

Ah Yat Seafood Market’s six seafood restaurants will keep selling the fish, but pass a proportion – about 20 per cent – of the increase in cost to customers. Others which sell the fish at market prices, like Grand Copthorne Waterfront hotel, will continue to do so.

Fans of the tiger garoupa are peeved that they might have to pay a higher price for the fish this year, but some are willing to cough up the money.

‘Eating tiger garoupa during Chinese New Year is part of the culture. It is like buying a Christmas tree during Christmas. We will stick to it even if prices go up,’ said Mrs Sock Wee Lim, 50, a consultant. ‘It’s also good luck to consume tiger garoupa during the tiger year.’

Others, though, say they will make a switch.

‘If a particular kind of fish becomes more expensive, I will switch to other kinds,’ said homemaker Mabel Tjong, 53.

limjess@sph.com.sg

Additional reporting by Linus Lin and Carolyn Quek

海鲜供应商：“死鱼”事件间接影响 春节虎斑可能涨价

● 赵倩玉 6 Jan 2010 Zao Bao

本地春节的老虎斑鱼供应虽不太可能受近日白沙“死鱼”事件影响，但售价可能间接地受到波动，海鲜供应商估计来临春节，虎斑可能涨价。

根据农粮与兽医局（AVA），这次的“死鱼”事件中死亡的养殖鱼达30万条，其中一半以上是虎斑；另有红鲷鱼、鲹鱼（trevally，鲹念shen第一声））及午鱼（threadfin）也受殃及。

尽管有15万条虎斑死亡，但农粮局不认为这会影响本地供应。

本地渔场每年虎斑产量270公吨，大部分运往香港，本地餐馆及供应商反而须从印尼、马来西亚的槟城及柔佛等地进口活虎斑。

农粮局发言人说，本地人每年食用约12万30公吨鱼肉，本地渔场供应的虎斑只占0.2%，微不足道。

因此，本地海鲜供应商反而认为区域性的影响远远超过白沙“死鱼”事件对虎斑价格的影响。

中港两地需求  也会推高价格

得海鲜供应商老板郭彼得说，中国大陆与香港是虎斑主要买家，香港对虎斑这类海鲜的需求量尤其大，甚至雇船到本地、印尼及马来西亚等地收购。

因此中港两地的需求量左右着虎斑市场，相比之下，新加坡对虎斑的需求量微不足道。

郭彼得说，近年来虎斑产量过剩，加上前年底爆发的经济危机，虎斑价格一度跌到每公斤13元。不过近几个月经济逐渐回暖，虎斑价格似乎看涨，中国大陆与香港的售价可达20多元。

他认为今年春节，虎斑可能更贵。本地往年春节消耗掉大约五六公吨虎斑。

郭彼得也说：“华人在春节为了图年年有余的好兆头，一定会点一道鱼，但不一定是虎斑。如果虎斑涨价，人们会转向石斑鱼。”

根据珍宝海鲜餐馆，本地人上海鲜餐馆最常点的是石斑、虎斑与金目鲈。

但也有海鲜供应商认为白沙“死鱼”事件可能会间接影响本地虎斑价格。Seng Seafood Supplier是东部海域渔场供应本地餐馆的其中一家海鲜供应商。老板王诚诚说，虽然供应商可以增加进口量来填补“死鱼”事件所造成的虎斑缺货，而且新加坡的需求量较小，照理不会造成虎斑起价。但他认为，出口虎斑给新加坡的各国渔场，可能乘机抬高价格。

他说：“我们能让虎斑供应回复到以前水平，但本钱可能会提高。”

王诚诚说，本地人以前多在春节上餐馆时吃石斑，直到五六年前开始流行虎斑。

珍宝海鲜与长堤海鲜餐馆都表示还未接到虎斑涨价的消息。珍宝海鲜表示，餐馆向来售卖本地渔场提供的活海鲜，还未从供应商接到虎斑涨价的通知。长堤海鲜餐馆则主要以进口鱼为主要货源。

从上月25日起，东部海域渔场所饲养的虎斑频频死亡，导致本地虎斑有可能在春节涨价。