Whopper of a catch
Shuli Sudderuddin, Straits Times 15 Nov 09;
Kelong owner Maureen Ng has a whopper of a fish tale - and it is true.
About a year ago, she caught three huge garoupa at her kelong just off Punggol.
Each weighed about 25kg, about 10 times that of an average garoupa caught in Singapore waters.
Mrs Ng, in her early 60s, raised them till they were 40kg. Two were sold as a pair for more than $1,000. 'I kept the third and it now weighs about 50kg to 60kg. It's huge,' she said.
Whopper-sized catches make the news when they turn up every few months.
On Nov 3, The New Paper reported that a fisherman caught a 100kg garoupa and a 100kg guitar shark in waters near Singapore - both within a week.
Avid angler and fishing equipment seller Mark Ang, 37, said: 'There are big fish and sea creatures in nearby waters but to catch them is quite hard. I've caught a 33kg stingray off Changi.'
Mr Kelvin Thean, 45, works in sales but is an avid angler. Together with friends, he charters boats to go fishing.
His biggest catch - near Pulau Ubin - was a 20kg stingray. It was barbecued and eaten.
'Some of the bigger animals, like sharks, are found much further away from the coast, where it is about 80m to 100m deep,' he said.
Mr James Low, 50, who charters out his fibreglass speedboat, said sea cucumbers - marine animals related to sea urchins - have been fished out near Punggol Marina.
They can grow to more than a metre, but the ones caught are usually about 20cm long.
'But we usually throw them back as we don't know how to eat them,' he said.
Mr Low added that his customers have caught stingrays that weighed between 30kg and 50kg. 'They can be the size of a small table and are too big, so we let them go,' he said.
An Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority spokesman said it is not illegal to catch or sell a marine animal if it is not listed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
Animals on the list are endangered. Marine animals on this list include the Asian arowana, sturgeon and seahorse.
The curator of Sentosa's Underwater World Singapore, Mr Anthony Chang, said there are a number of marine animals that can be found in the waters around Singapore.
For example, in 2002, the Underwater World rescued and released an Indo-Pacific humpbacked dolphin calf stranded in a kelong off Pasir Ris.
In 1998, it rescued a young du-gong. Given the name Gracie, it now lives in the Underwater World.
'There have also been reports of such endangered species as green turtles and loggerhead turtles. In the past, when the conditions of our waters were better, there was more marine life, but now large fish cannot be found as frequently or easily,' Mr Chang said.
Professor Chou Loke Ming, a marine expert from the Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, said many species of large marine animals can be found in our waters.
These include the whale shark, sawfish, billfish and false killer whale.
He said: 'In the 1950s, what was thought to be the carcass of a young blue whale - a rarity here - was found, but this could not be confirmed as the carcass was disposed of in deep water.'
Mr Chang said many of the less common sea creatures may not be native to Singapore, but move around the region, including Malaysia and Indonesia.
For some fishing enthusiasts, like Mrs Ng, there is money to be made from a big catch.
She said: 'If you sell a big one, you can get a few hundred dollars. It's like picking money off the road.'
shulis@sph.com.sg
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The ones that didn't get away
Straits Times 15 Nov 09;
They may be rare off the coast of Singapore, but for Mr Lim Kian Heng, 20kg garoupa are a daily encounter.
The 38-year-old owns Yuan Wei Deep Sea (Giant Grouper) Fish Porridge and Fish Steamboat in Serangoon, which specialises in giant garoupa dishes.
Every two days, he gets two giant garoupa from suppliers who import them from places like Malaysia and Thailand.
Each fish, which comes live and is transferred by two men into a tank, costs about $600.
The garoupa are killed just before cooking and every part is made into different dishes, from the head and tail to the lips.
Said Mr Lim: 'The bigger fish take longer to cook than regular ones and must be cooked with more care. Each fish can feed two to three tables of people and we are sold out in about 11/2 days.'
The former subcontractor hit on the idea of a giant garoupa eatery when he came across dishes featuring the fish in China.
He found a chef who taught him how to cook and flavour the larger fish, and opened his restaurant two years ago.
Since then, he said, a steady stream of fans has spawned and his business is now doing quite well.
Despite the effort that goes into preparing the dishes, Mr Lim said the payoff is worth it.
He said: 'The giant garoupa have a firmer consistency and the flesh has a sweetness to it.'
Shuli Sudderuddin
Related article
Guitar shark caught off Changi Possible to find large sharks in local waters, Teh Jen Lee, The New Paper 5 Nov 09 AsiaOne
