Woo Sian Boon Today Online 19 Feb 14;
SINGAPORE — The Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA) yesterday laid out how it is assisting fish farmers affected by the mass die-offs earlier this month to re-stock their farms.
The AVA will source for and facilitate the bulk purchase of quality fish fry and fingerlings, said a National Development Ministry spokesperson last night. In addition, the AVA will co-fund 70 per cent of the cost of the fry and fingerlings, with farmers paying the rest.
“To help farmers develop better resilience in fish production, the AVA will also co-fund 70 per cent of the purchase of equipment and systems required to be put in place to mitigate against similar incidents in the future,” said the ministry’s spokesperson.
The spokesperson’s comments came after Minister of State (National Development) Maliki Osman had assured Parliament earlier yesterday that the AVA is working “very closely” with fish-farm owners to develop better systems so that they can cope with sudden adverse changes to the environment and meet production targets better.
Dr Maliki had said this in response to a question by Nominated Member of Parliament Faizah Jamal, who asked whether the AVA monitors the proper disposal of waste from fish farms.
To help fish farms along the East Johor Straits dispose of waste in a proper way, a jetty with a waste collection centre will be built at Lorong Halus, Dr Maliki said.
The centre — which will start operating at the end of the year — will be similar to that of fish farms on the western and southern coasts, which are served by a central disposal system at the Lim Chu Kang jetty, he told Parliament.
Ms Faizah also pointed out that she had not spotted any skid tanks — huge metal tanks often used for industrial waste — for fish farm waste in the Changi area prior to the recent mass fish deaths.
The AVA said on Feb 11 that about 160 tonnes of dead fish were reported by 39 fish farms along both the East and West Johor Straits. The mass deaths could have been caused by a plankton bloom — brought on by hot weather or the neap tide — which can drain seawater of oxygen.
“These questions were filed before the recent incident of fish deaths, so I think the questions are even more important at this stage for us to consider,” Ms Faizah said.
Ms Faizah also wanted to know if the AVA monitors water quality, and why it did not give advance notice on the plankton bloom — which drains seawater of oxygen — that caused the mass fish deaths.
Noting that the plankton bloom “happened very fast”, Dr Maliki added that a “multitude of factors”, such as the susceptibility of certain types of fish to low levels of dissolved oxygen in the water, led to the mass deaths.
Offshore fish farm owners must dispose off waste properly: Dr Maliki
Channel NewsAsia 18 Feb 14
Minister of State for National Development Maliki Osman said under the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) fisg farm licensing conditions, owners of Singapore's offshore fish farms must properly dispose off the waste generated from their farms. Replying to questions from MPs, he said owners must also keep their premises in good condition and ensure that the waters in and around their farms are clean and pollutant-free at all times. He said AVA also carries out quarterly inspections and ad-hoc night raids on all fish farms to check for compliance with its licensing conditions.
Farmers affected by recent mass fish deaths to get help: Maliki
Nur Asyiqin Mohamad Salleh Straits Times AsiaOne 20 Feb 14;
Fish farmers still reeling from losses caused by mass fish deaths in recent weeks will get a helping hand, said Minister of State for National Development Maliki Osman on Tuesday.
One of the first steps authorities can take is to help fish farm owners, especially those with poor aeration systems, develop their equipment to better meet production targets and cope better with sudden changes in environmental conditions.
The mass deaths started about three weeks ago, and were due to plankton blooms brought about by a double whammy of high temperatures and low tides.
"We want to turn this situation from adversity to opportunity... how we can actually facilitate them improving their systems such that future occurences may be prevented," Mr Maliki said.
Farmers may also receive help from the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA) in buying fish fry, or get greater subsidies.
Mr Maliki's commments were prompted by questions from Nominated MP Faizah Jamal, who had also asked if fish farms which do not comply with regulations set by the AVA would have their licences revoked.
This could be due to improper waste disposal, such as dumping dead fish into the open sea, or failing to meet production targets. Fish farms here must produce 17 tonnes of fish per half hectare of farm space to keep their licences.
Mr Maliki said revoking licenses would be a "worst-case scenario", aimed at farm owners who have failed over several years to meet licensing conditions.
He added: "But I think the way to go right now is to help them. We want to help the farmers, because this is their livelihood. We want to try to be sympathetic."
Ms Faizah also asked about waste disposal services for fish farms here.
Mr Maliki said fish farms along the East Johor Straits will have a central disposal system when a new jetty at Lorong Halus is ready this quarter.
[wilsingapore update -- These were the written question submitted by NMP Faizah Jamal:
(1) To ask the Minister for National Development when were the feasibility studies for 'door- to- door waste collection services' for fish farms conducted, how many licensed fish farms existed at the time of the studies, what were the quantum of costs that AVA found too high for the farmers , and what costs would AVA consider low enough for the farmers to pay in order to initiate such a service.
(2) To ask the Minister for National Development for clarification as to the frequency of AVA routine inspections to monitor fish farms including night raids, and whether these cover the southern and western coastal fish farms.
(3) To ask the Minister for Environment and Water Resources what steps NEA takes to audit trash disposal from offshore fish farms to ensure our water quality is not affected.]
[wildsingapore update -- The following is our transcript of the above video clip. The official transcript will be available on Parliamentary Reports Hansard 7 working days after the event.
00:00
Minister Maliki: Madam Speaker, under the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority fish farm licensing conditions, owners of offshore fish farms must properly dispose of the waste generated from their farms.
The owners must also keep their premises in good condition and ensure that the waters in and around their farms are clean and pollutant-free at all times.
AVA carries out quarterly inspections and ad-hoc night raids on all fish farms including those in the Southern and Western coastal areas, to check for compliance with its licensing conditions.
During the inspections, AVA officers will check that farmers use proper waste disposal methods.
In addition, night raids deter farmers from illegally throwing fish farm trash to the shore under the cover of darkness.
01:02
Minister Maliki: In Oct 2013, AVA explored if door-to-door waste collection services could be provided to fish farms sited in the Eastern Johor Strait.
There were 60 licenced fish farms at that time. AVA estimated that each fish farmer would have to pay about $160 per month for weekly door-to-door waste collection service.
With the new AVA jetty at Lorong Halus ready later this year, the Eastern fish farmers can bring their farm waste to a waste collection centre at the jetty to help facilitate proper waste disposal.
This is similar to the arrangement for the Western fish farmers who use the waste disposal services at the Lim Chu Kang jetty.
01:50
NMP Faizah Jamal: I have three supplementary questions. My questions were actually filed before the recent incident of fish deaths so I think the questions are even more important at this stage for us to consider. My first question is this: You mentioned that the owners have to dispose of the fish trash correctly. However, immediately after the PQ response that I received in November, I checked at Changi Creek and I found there were no skids at all. Up until only when the fish deaths happened that is when the skid were actually provided. And even then it disappeared yesterday, it’s no longer there. So my question is was the fish trash disposed of previously from the Eastern shores and what happens to the disposal now with the fish deaths? That’s the first question.
And secondly, with the fish deaths happening at the moment, what is AVA going to do about monitoring the water quality as well as given the fact that the reason given for the fish deaths was plankton bloom, does it mean that AVA had not been monitoring water quality and given feedback and if so what is the solution going forward?
Next question is AVA going to be studying what the health impacts are on us as a result of the possibly bad water quality as a result of this incident?
And lastly, would AVA consider, going forward again, helping fish farmers using more techonologically advanced and environmentally (friendly) methods of fish farming in the future? Thank you.
3:28
Minister Maliki: Thank you Ms Faizah for the set of questions. Under the skid at Changi Creek, I will ask AVA to investigate what happened. If your observation is right, we have to find out exactly who is responsible for that.
On the disposal, the recent issue of what happened at the fish farm, plankton bloom during the conditions that happened during the last couple of weeks facilittated plankton bloom. Because when there is high heat as well as the neap tide because of the low tide that also facilitated the flourishing and the blooming of the plankton .So I think AVA is monitoring such conditions, but I think when it happens it was very fast. And it also links up to the type of fish that farmers were actually rearing. The three types of fish that were susceptible to conditions were the ones who were not able to survive. So I think there were a multitude of factors that led to the condition.
On the issue of quality of the water, I think at this point in time, the way the fish were disposed during this recent fish kills, AVA brought in their contractors to help the affected fish farmers. So on normal situations, the fish farmers are responsible to dispose the fish wastes and that is their responsibility.
So there are two locations. You are talking about the Western and Southern and you are talking about the Eastern. The Western and Southern they have the Lim Chu Kang jetty that has facilitated a more controlled fish waste disposal system. They dispose the waste at the jetty and there is a central disposal system available there.
And the Eastern farms we don’t have a system at this point in time. And that is one of the reasons why we have developed and are building the Lorong Halus jetty to facilitate similar processes. Where once we have the Lorong Halus jetty, then the farmers can actually dispose of their waste centrally at the Lorong Halus jetty. The jetty will be ready by this quarter and Iwill be operational by probably the later part of the year.
On the issue of the health impact, I think we are studying the health impact and the conditions of the water are monitored very closely.
On the last question of technological advancements, and that is one of the things that we found when I visited the farms recently also. We have put in place opportunities for the farmers to improve their conditions. One of the challenges they had was they have very poor aeration systems. Some didn’t even have generators to facilitate aeration as an immediate action when the oxygen level of the water came down. And the oxygen level came down because of the plankton bloom. So we are working very closely with the farmers to help them improve on their current system. One of the challenges is that we acknowledge and I think the farmers acknowledge is that we want to turn this situation to an advantage and opportunity. How we can actually facilitate for them improving their systems such that future occurences may be prevented. There are farms who have successfuly tapped on the Food Fund and they have actually put in better systems that have allowed them to actually mitigate the impact of the current situation. So some of the farms were not affected because they have invested in proper technology and have proper systems that allowed them to mitigate the impact of such sudden changes in temperature and suddent changes in conditions. So their aeration systems were a lot more advanced, they were able to manage the oxygen levels within the farms.
07:25
NMP Faizah: Supplementary question Mdm Speaker, would AVA then consider revoking the licences of those farmers that have not been up-to-date or have not kept to the promises they made to AVA?
07:40
Minister Maliki: You know when we revoked the licences recently, there was a lot of pleas from the fish farmers. We want to try to help the fish farmers, I think the first thing is to help them to develop their systems so they are able to produce. Certainly there are targets that have been set in place because we have very limited water spaces and we have limited land spaces for farming activities. So with the farmers we have put in place opportunities for them to actually improve their productivity levels. Yes, in the worst case scenario we will revoke licences for those who have failed to comply with the regulations we have put in place including those who fail to produce the kind of quantity that we require. But I think the way to go right now is to help them, because this is their livelihood. We want to try to be sympathetic. Even for those who have recently suffered the mass fish kills, AVA is working very closely with them trying to facilitate and possibly help them with the purchase of fish fries, fingerlings. Put in greater subsidies to help them get back on their feet. We want to try to help our local farmers. We also have targets. We want to improve the productivity level of our fish production because fish is one of the key food items in our food strategy. So as much as we want to try to make them comply, we will take a very calibrated approach to support them. For those failed over several years and they have not been taking part in productivity movements, we will certainly look into the worst case scenario of revoking their licence.]
Waste Disposal at Fish Farms
from Singapore Parliament Reports (HANSARD)
Ms Faizah Jamal asked the Minister for National Development (a) when were the feasibility studies for door-to-door waste collection services for fish farms conducted; (b) how many licensed fish farms existed at the time when the feasibility studies were conducted; (c) what is the quantum of costs that AVA found too high for the farmers; and (d) what costs will AVA consider low enough for the farmers to pay in order to initiate such a service.
Ms Faizah Jamal asked the Minister for National Development (a) what is the frequency of AVA's routine inspections to monitor fish farms including night raids; and (b) whether these cover the southern and western coastal fish farms.
Ms Faizah Jamal asked the Minister for National Development what are the steps that NEA takes to audit trash disposal by offshore fish farms to ensure that our water quality is not affected.
The Minister of State for Defence and National Development (Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman) (for the Minister for National Development): Mdm Speaker, with your permission, may I take Question Nos 6 to 8 together?
Mdm Speaker: Yes, please.
Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman: Mdm Speaker, under the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority’s fish farm licensing conditions, owners of offshore fish farms must properly dispose of the waste generated from their farms. The owners must also keep their premises in good condition and ensure that the waters in and around their farms are clean and pollution-free at all times.
AVA carries out quarterly inspections and ad-hoc night raids on all fish farms, including those in the southern and western coastal areas, to check for compliance with its licensing conditions. During the inspections, AVA officers will check that farmers use proper waste disposal methods. In addition, night raids deter farmers from illegally towing fish farm trash to the shore under the cover of darkness.
In October 2013, AVA explored if door-to-door waste collection services could be provided for fish farm sited in the eastern Johor Straits. There were 60 licensed eastern fish farms at that time.
AVA estimated that each fish farmer would have to pay $160 per month for weekly door-to-door waste collection service. With the new AVA jetty at Lorong Halus ready later this year, the eastern fish farmers can bring their farm waste to the waste collection centre at the jetty to help facilitate proper waste disposal. This is similar to the arrangement for the western fish farmers who use the waste disposal services at the Lim Chu Kang jetty.
Ms Faizah Jamal (Nominated Member): I have a few supplementary questions. These questions were actually filed before the recent incident of fish deaths. So I think the questions are even more important at this stage for us to consider.
My first supplementary question is this. There has been mention that the owners have to dispose of the fish trash correctly. However, immediately after the Parliamentary Question (PQ) response that I received in November, I checked at Changi Creek and I found there were no skids there at all. Up until only when the fish deaths happened that a skid was actually provided. And even then, it disappeared yesterday – it is no longer there. So my question is: how was the fish trash disposed of previously from the eastern shores and what happened to the disposal now with the fish deaths? That is the first question.
And secondly, with the fish deaths happening at the moment, what is AVA going to do about the monitoring the water quality? Given the fact that the reason given for the fish deaths was a plankton bloom, does it mean that AVA had not been monitoring water quality and given feedback? And if so, what is going to be the solution going forward?
Next question is: is AVA going to be studying what the health impact is on us as a result of a possibly bad water quality as a result of this incident?
And lastly, would AVA now consider going forward again and helping fish farms to use more technologically advanced and environmentally friendly methods of fish farming in the future?
Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman: I thank Ms Faizah for the set of questions. On the skid at Changi Creek, we will ask AVA to investigate on what happened. If the Member’s observation is right, we have to find out exactly who is responsible for that.
On the recent issue of what happened at the fish farms, the plankton bloom: the conditions happened over the last couple of weeks facilitated a plankton bloom because when there is heat as well as the tide, because of the low tide, we were told that facilitated the flourishing and the blooming of the plankton.
AVA is monitoring such a condition. But when it happened, it was very fast. It also links up to the type of fish that the farmers were actually rearing. There were three types of fish that are susceptible to such conditions and these were the ones who were not able to survive. I think there was a multitude of factors that led to that condition.
On the issue of the quality of the water: the way the fish were disposed of during the recent fish deaths, AVA brought in their contractors to help the affected fish farmers. Under the normal situation, the fish farmers are responsible to dispose of the fish waste – that is their responsibility. We have two locations: western and southern, and the eastern.
The western and southern section, they have the Lim Chu Kang jetty that has facilitated a more controlled fish waste disposal system. They dispose of their waste at the jetty and there is a central disposal system available there. At the eastern farms, we do not have that system at this point in time. That is one of the reasons why we are building the Lorong Halus jetty to facilitate similar processes. Once we have the Lorong Halus jetty, then the farmers can dispose of their waste centrally at the Lorong Halus jetty. The Jetty will be ready by this quarter and will be operational by probably the later part of the year.
On the issue of the health impact, I think we are studying the health impact and the conditions with the water, we are monitoring very closely.
On the last question on technological advancement: that is really one of the things we found when I visited the farms recently. We have put in place opportunities for the farmers to improve their conditions. One of the challenges they had was they had very poor aeration system. Some did not even have generators to facilitate aeration as an immediate action when the oxygen level of the water came down. The oxygen level came down because of the plankton blooms.
We are working very closely with the farmers to help them improve on their current systems. One of the challenges that we acknowledge -- and I think the farmers acknowledge it as well -- is we want to turn this situation from adversity to opportunity, and see how we can actually facilitate them in improving their systems such that future occurrences may be prevented.
There are farms who have successfully tapped on the Food Fund and they have put in better systems that had allowed them to mitigate the impact of the current situation. So some of the farms were not affected because they have invested in proper technology and proper systems that allowed them to mitigate the impact of such sudden changes in the temperature and sudden changes in conditions. Their aeration systems were a lot more advanced. They were able to manage the oxygen levels within their farms.
Ms Faizah Jamal: A supplementary question, Mdm Speaker. Would AVA then consider revoking the licences of those farmers that have not been up-to-date or have not been keeping to the promises that they made to AVA?
Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman: When we revoked licences recently, there were a lot of pleas from the fish farmers. We want to try to help the fish farmers. The first thing is to help them develop their systems as well as to be able to produce. Certainly, there are targets that have been set in place because we have very limited spaces. We have limited water and land spaces for farming activities. With the farmers, we have put in place opportunities for them to improve other productivity levels.
Yes, in a worst case scenario, we will revoke licences for those who have failed to comply with the regulations we put in place, including those who fail to produce the kind of quantity that is required. The way to go right now is to help them. We want to help the farmers because this is their livelihood. We want to try to be sympathetic even for those who have recently suffered the mass fish deaths. AVA is working very closely with them, trying to facilitate and, possibly, help them with the purchase of fish fries, fingerlings, put in greater subsidies to help them get back on their feet. We want to try to help our local farmers. We also have targets where we want to improve the productivity level of our fish production because fish is one of the key food items in our food strategy.
So as much as we want to try to make them comply, we will take a very calibrated approach to support them. For those who have failed over several years and they have not been taking part in productivity movements, certainly we will look at the worst case scenario of revoking their licences.
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