Shellfish hunting in Bedok: From canal to dinner table

Tay Shi'an, The New Paper 6 Oct 08;

LOCALS climbing into smelly canals to dig for shellfish for the dinner table.

A scene out of a rural village? No, this is Singapore and the canal is the Sungei Bedok, off Bedok Road.

On weekends, and when the water in the canal is shallow, families and groups of friends can be seen squatting in the shin-deep water, running their hands in the murky water to look for lalas.

Never mind the 'Danger' and 'Do not enter the water' signs, or the faint, vaguely unpleasant smell from the 4m deep canal.

Or that both PUB, the national water agency, and the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority have warned the public against climbing into canals, and eating food from unreliable sources.

Mr Yeo Ah Yong, 48, a deliveryman, was there during the Hari Raya public holiday with two friends.

They came with a broken off fan cover as a sieve, a floating styrofoam box to toss lalas into and pails for storage.

Said Mr Yeo: 'We come here once a week, when the tide is low. It's a good way to spend time, and no need to spend money.'

They've known about this place for a few months, and spend about two hours per lala-hunting session.

His friend, deliveryman Mr Tan Ah Swee, 40, said that on a good day, they can get up to 5kg of lalas each.

They then head back to their homes in Bedok and Sengkang and cook the lalas for their families.

Mr David Ye, 38, also brought his fishing rod. On lucky days, he catches one or two little ni qiu (loaches) - though he wasn't quite so lucky on Wednesday.

After setting up his fishing rod, he waded into the water with his mother-in-law, while his wife watched their 2-year-old son on a bench.

They left with two plastic bags of lalas, which they planned to fry with chilli.

Mr Ye said he's not concerned about the lalas being dirty, as he follows his mother's advice - to soak the lalas overnight in water, so they would excrete the sand and grit. 'It tastes like those you buy from the market, but it's free.'

Housewife Madam Lim, who is in her 60s, was also not worried about the food safety. She said: 'We've eaten this for so long. If anything had happened, we would not have come and caught them anymore.'

She came with two cars full of children and grandchildren, from as far as Sengkang and Woodlands.

She said in Mandarin: 'There are fewer lalas now. Last time, you could just scoop, and your basket would be half full. Now, you must find one by one, and feel for them in the sand.'

The family brought bottles of water to rinse themselves after emerging from the canal. 'Just rinse, then go home and bathe,' said Madam Lim.

She was not worried about her adult children climbing into the canal, as they leave when the water hits knee level, and they are very careful.

She said they had never slipped or had any accidents while lala-hunting.

But they don't allow the grandchildren to climb into the canal.

So they amuse themselves by walking along the cycling and pedestrian path that runs parallel to the canal.

Madam Annie Low, 36, an IT consultant, lets her two daughters, aged 8 and 4, climb in with her husband and mother. She said: 'My children like it, especially my elder daughter. She's always asking us to come.

'It's better than going to shopping centres, nothing to do.

'And she loves to eat it! My mother will fry with spring onion or sambal, or we barbecue and grill it, very nice.'

The adults make sure the children are always close by, and don't climb into the drain holes along the side of the canal.

Madam Low said that at first, she did not dare to eat the lalas.

'But other people ate, and nothing happened. Then I dare,' she said.

Fun but unsafe, say authorities

IT may be fun, but it's dangerous. A spokesman for PUB, the national water agency, said canals are designed to move stormwater away quickly.

So, heavy rainwater from other parts of the drain network upstream may suddenly flow into a dry canal.

'This rapid surge of water within minutes can pose a danger to people who are in a canal,' said Mr Tan Nguan Sen, PUB's director of catchment and waterways.

'For this reason, the public are not allowed to enter any canals as they may not be able to get out of the canal in time when that happens.'

To ensure public safety, there are railings and warning signs along deep drains and canals to prevent people from accidentally falling in.

PUB said it will step up its surveillance and put up more warning signs at the canal. It also encouraged members of the public to call PUB's 24-hour call centre at 1800 284 6600 if they see people in canals without authority from PUB.

And, are the lalas safe to eat?

A spokesman from the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority said that such shellfish are 'high-risk' food, and advised Singaporeans to always purchase their food from reliable sources, which fall under AVA's existing surveillance programme to check on the safety of seafood.

Said the spokesman: 'Certain seafoods are considered high risk as they are more likely to cause food-borne illness. They include raw or partially cooked oysters, cockles, clams and lalas. They tend to accumulate viruses and bacteria from the surrounding water.'