Fish farm owners brace for potential damage from oil spill

Jessica Yeo Channel NewsAsia 25 May 10;

SINGAPORE : Fish farms located in the Ubin-Pasir Ris area are not too worried about the oil spill resulting from the tanker collision off the East Coast of Singapore.

The Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore has given plastic sheets to some 35 fish farm owners to protect the area.

MediaCorp understands that while most of the fishes in the area are housed three metres below the water, the owners feel that the oil spill will not cause as much damage as the plankton bloom that occurred last December.

Fish farm owners say they will not be feeding the fishes when the oil spill reaches them to prevent the fishes from coming up to the surface to eat.

This will deter the fishes, which can survive without food for two to three days, from consuming polluted material.

The public is advised to avoid eating shell fish and mussels as they usually reside on the water's surface.

- CNA/al

Fish farms try to save stock
Jessica Lim Straits Times 25 May 10;

FISH farmers are frantically trying to save their stock of fish, which could die if oil from a two-vessel collision yesterday reaches their net cages.

The Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA), which manages all the fish farms here, says there is a possibility that the oil slick will reach Northeast Singapore on Wednesday.

All 51 farms off the Changi coast are covering their nets with canvas skirting to prevent the oil getting in. The skirting is on loan to them from the AVA. Some farmers are also taking extra precaution, such as lowering their nets deeper into the ocean to minimise exposure to the oil on the surface, or piping oxygen into net cages.

'There is a possibility of the spill reaching Pulau Tekong and Pulau Ubin today, depending on the tides and wind,' said Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore's (AVA) director of agricultural industry Wong Hon Mun. 'What we are doing is taking precautions. Should the oil come, at least the farms are protected.'

An oil slick over the fish farms would deprive stock of oxygen and lead to fish deaths, said Dr Wong, who said the AVA has also stationed two officials on 24-hour-watch at the Changi Ferry Terminal to watch for the slick.

An oil spill contamination would be a double whammy for farmers, many of whom are still reeling from a plankton bloom that hit them in December, which sucked up the oxygen and led to a combined loss of about 400,000 fish.

Scramble to protect fish stock
Farmers cover nets with canvas; some lower nets and pipe in oxygen
Jessica Lim Straits Times 26 May 10;

FISH farmers are frantically trying to save their stock of fish, which could die if oil from a two-vessel collision yesterday reaches their net cages.

The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA), which manages all the fish farms here, says there is a possibility that the oil slick will reach north-east Singapore today.

All 51 farms off the Changi coast are covering their nets with canvas skirting to prevent the oil from getting in. The skirting is on loan to them from the AVA.

Some farmers are also taking extra precautions, such as lowering their nets deeper into the ocean to minimise exposure to the oil on the surface, or piping oxygen into net cages.

'There is a possibility of the spill reaching Pulau Tekong and Pulau Ubin today, depending on the tides and wind,' said AVA's director of agricultural industry Wong Hon Mun.

'What we are doing is taking precautions. Should the oil come, at least the farms are protected.'

An oil slick over the fish farms would deprive stock of oxygen and lead to fish deaths, said Dr Wong, who added that the AVA has stationed two officials at the Changi Ferry Terminal on 24-hour watch for the slick.

An oil spill contamination would be a double whammy for farmers, many of whom are still reeling from a plankton bloom that hit them in December, which sucked up the oxygen and led to a combined loss of about 400,000 fish.

The coastal floating net cage farms supply stock to local supermarkets and restaurants. They also export fish to places like Hong Kong and China.

The farms in Changi contribute about a third of the estimated 3,000 tonnes of fish produced by local farms yearly, said the AVA. The rest is supplied by farms in the Lim Chu Kang area.

Ms Maureen Ng, the owner of a farm off Changi West, is taking steps to avoid the worst.

The 62-year-old has 40 cages of fish and will be putting up the canvas skirting and monitoring water oxygen levels for any changes.

'We are quite worried. Hopefully what we are doing will minimise the damage,' said Ms Ng, concerned that her proposed sale of $17,000 worth of tiger grouper to importers in China next week would be affected.

Mr Chow Chan Yuen, 66, a farmer for the past decade, is not taking any chances. He will lower his nets and pump in oxygen, in addition to putting up the skirting.

'I am scared I will lose everything,' said Mr Chow, who has never encountered an oil spill.

'Last year, we lost about $150,000 because of the plankton bloom.

'If something like that happens again, I don't know if my business can take another hit.'

Related links

• Singapore Changi East Oil Spill (25 May 2010) Facebook Page for latest info, updates and observations of the oil spill.
  
• wild shores of singapore updates with consolidated news and checks on our shores for signs of crude and impact of spill.