Don't want to get overcharged for prawns at Newton?
The New Paper 23 March 09
WHY spend $239 on eight prawns - as some tourists did recently - when you can enjoy hooking and barbecuing them yourself, all for a lot less?
After the furore over overpriced prawns at the Newton Food Centre, fishing facilities such as the Hai Bin U Enterprise in Bishan are hoping more people will visit them for a taste of big prawns.
For $15 an hour, their customers have a chance to reel in fresh prawns, some of which can be as long as a soft drink bottle.
The company provides you with a rod and bait, and you can sit by a pond waiting for the prawns to bite.
Mr Edward Ng, 35, who does marketing for Hai Bin U, said that some of the customers - known as 'prawnsters' - are so crazy about 'prawning' that they have even done it for 24 hours at a stretch.
Customers can cook the prawns right there as barbecue pits are also available.
On weekends, an average of 1,000 people flock to the pond, which is open round the clock, Mr Ng said.
The pond is refilled with about 10kg of live prawns every hour.
Various locations
There are more than 10 such prawn fishing facilities in various locations around the island, said Mr Daryl Chan, owner of Punggol Prawning.
'The price of $15 an hour is more or less standard at these places,' he said.
Mr Ng of Hai Bin U said: 'The pricing is 20 over years old, but we're trying to remain competitive with the other prawn fishing facilities.'
When The New Paper on Sunday visited Hai Bin U this week, the two main ponds had several 'prawnsters' around the perimeter, hoping to reel in the big head - or 'Tua Tau' as many call it - fresh water prawns.
Hai Bin U orders six to eight tonnes of prawns monthly, and this can go up to 10 tonnes during the school holidays. The monthly bill: about $250,000.
Primary school pupil Low Kai Yi, 10, was among those spotted at the pond.
'I asked my mum to bring me here today,' he said. 'It's more likely that I'll catch a prawn here, rather than out in open waters.'
One of his first few catches included a large 'Tua Tau'. He caught it in less than half an hour.
He said: 'We usually take them home to cook and eat.'
Kai Yi's mother, Dr H H Lee, 46, a dental surgeon, helps her son with unhooking the prawns each time he pulls one out of the pond.
'When they get to catch the prawn, it makes the experience more rewarding,' Dr Lee said. 'It's the excitement of the bite.'
Mr James Tan, 19, a full-time NSman, has been to Hai Bin U more than 10 times, staying for two to three hours each time.
He said: 'The number of prawns you catch depends on your luck.'
He catches eight or nine prawns each visit. His biggest catch was about 20.
His friend and fellow NSman, Mr Desmond Lim, 19, was on his second visit to the ponds.
'Here, we can relax, chit chat with friends, and break away from what we usually do,' he said. 'We'll grill the prawns to eat later too.'
- Han Su-Ying, newsroom intern
