ELGIN CHONG Today Online 14 Jan 15;
SINGAPORE — Singaporeans can look now look forward to getting fresh, filleted barramundi fish delivered directly to their tables from the ocean pen.
Today (Jan 14), Barramundi Asia launched a new ‘farm-to-fork’ model — the first that does filleted processing with an unbroken cold chain. This means that when the fish is harvested, they are kept under sub-zero temperatures until the barramundi fillets reach the consumers’ doorsteps.
The barramundi fish are harvested to order. When consumers place their orders on www.kuhlbarra.com, the fish is harvested directly from the 7.5 hectare ocean farm located at the south of Singapore, near the Raffles Lighthouse.
Feed containing ingredients such as protein-rich vegetables, soy bean meals and fish meals are given to the barramundi fish up to four times a day to ensure that they grow healthily.
After harvest, the fish are kept submerged in ice, and within hours, they are filleted in a cold room and vacuum-packed. The fillets are then packed in insulated containers before reaching the consumers’ doorsteps.
Currently, Barramundi Asia is offering an introductory price of S$50 per kg, which is inclusive of delivery. Single portions are also available at S$10 per 200g fillets.
Fish farm goes online to reel in customers
Elgin Chong, Channel NewsAsia 14 Jan 15;
SINGAPORE: Ever wanted fresh, filleted barramundi fish delivered directly to your table from the ocean pen? Barramundi Asia launched a new service on Wednesday (Jan 14) with a "farm-to-fork" model.
The model is touted to be the first that does fillet processing with an unbroken cold chain, which means that when the barramundi is harvested, they are kept under sub-zero temperatures until the fillets reach the consumers’ doorsteps.
The fish are harvested to order, said Barramundi Asia. When consumers place their orders on www.kuhlbarra.com, the fish is harvested directly from the 7.5-hectare ocean farm located at the south of Singapore, near the Raffles Lighthouse.
After harvest, the fish are kept submerged in ice and, within hours, are filleted in a cold room and vacuum-packed, Barramundi Asia said. The fillets are then packed in insulated containers before reaching the consumers’ doorsteps.
Barramundi Asia said feed containing ingredients such as protein-rich vegetables, soy bean meals and fish meals are given to the barramundi fish up to four times a day to ensure that they grow healthily.
Currently, Barramundi Asia is offering an introductory price of S$50 per kg, which is inclusive of delivery. Single portions are also available at S$10 for 200g fillets.
-TODAY/av
Get fish fresh from the farm - via the Net
Jacqueline Woo The Straits Times AsiaOne 17 Jan 15;
HOME-GROWN fish farm Barramundi Asia launched an online platform yesterday so consumers can buy its products over the Internet.
The barramundi fish are harvested from the firm's 7.5ha ocean farm in Pulau Semakau, filleted and vacuum- packed before being delivered in insulated boxes filled with ice.
The fish are kept at sub-zero temperatures even during the filleting and packing processes.
This is fresher and more hygienic than if consumers were to buy fresh fish and transport them home as the fish would likely thaw on the journey, noted Mr Andrew Kwan, group managing director of Commonwealth Capital, which co-owns the Barramundi Asia.
The fish are being sold under the new brand Kuhlbarra on the site www. kuhlbarra.com.
Barramundi Asia, which claims to be Singapore's largest fish farm, exports around 20 tonnes of fish a month to hotels and restaurants in Australia.
It also supplies fish to local hotels and restaurants.
Mr Kwan said demand for the farm's barramundi has "gone up over the past few years", as people become more discerning about what they eat and more environmentally aware.
"There is a huge potential for the sale of sustainably farmed fish in Singapore, and we look forward to putting more locally grown fish on dining tables in Singapore," he added.
Barramundi Asia will set up a second farm site - of 12ha - within the next two years to cater to the demand.
The firm, established in 2008, stresses its environmentally conscious practices.
The fish are fed high- quality fishmeal from a sustainability-certified manufacturer, it said.
The ocean enclosures off Pulau Semakau are in areas with strong currents so no excess feed builds up while fish waste is dispersed to be naturally recycled in the ecosystem.
"We believe that the best way to grow healthy, good-tasting fish is to feed them with high-quality food and let them swim in clean ocean waters," said managing director Joep Staarman.
"The best evidence of our environmentally sensitive approach can be seen from our farm - a delicate coral reef thrives in the waters just 200m from the sea cages."
Barramundi Asia's fish are going at an introductory price of $50 per kg online, which is inclusive of delivery.
Single portions are also available at $10 for 200g fillets.
Reeling in the benefits of farming fish in Singapore
Jacqueline Woo The Straits Times AsiaOne 23 Jan 15;
SINGAPORE - Building a solid network of contacts - even finding a plumber - did not come easy for Mr Joep Staarman when he set up his fish farm in Singapore in 2008.
"We were starting in a new place and we were starting from zero," said the 57-year-old Dutchman, who is managing director of Barramundi Asia.
"It took us a long time before we found people who were reliable and experts at what they did."
Whenever the farm's harvest boat broke down, for instance, Mr Staarman had to attempt repairing it himself, as he did not know any boat brokers here.
"I would get all greasy - because the boat runs on diesel - and even then, it didn't always work afterwards," he recalled with a laugh in an interview with The Straits Times last week.
Today, however, Mr Staarman, who previously worked at Marine Harvest, one of the world's largest seafood companies, is well acquainted with people in the local aquaculture industry, from boat repair brokers to boatmen.
Barramundi Asia produces 500 tonnes of barramundi fish a year at its 7.5ha European Union-certified farm off Pulau Semakau, which has a maximum capacity of 3,000 tonnes of fish.
The total volume of fish is growing at a compound rate of 11 per cent every month.
The firm exports about 20 tonnes of fish to hotels and restaurants in Australia each month.
It also supplies fish to hotels here, such as the Swissotel hotels, as well as restaurants like Wild Rocket and The Naked Finn.
Being in Singapore was what helped propel and grow the business, said Mr Staarman, who visits the farm four or five times a week.
"Having the same temperature all year round means that the fish always grows," he said, noting that barramundi fish are known to thrive in water temperatures between 28 deg C and 30 deg C.
The country's open southern waters - which comes with "oxygen-rich waters, strong currents and a pristine ecosystem" - are ideal for farming fish as well.
Board member Hans den Bieman, 66, said that Singapore's reliability and efficiency as a logistics and business hub also made it "a very logical choice" for the siting of the farm.
The stringent food safety requirements set by the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) also benefit the firm, as consumers know that the fish produced here are extremely safe to eat, he said.
"It's much more expedient to set up business here compared with some countries in Europe.
Fresh barramundi from farm to doorstep in 48 hours
AsiaOne 31 Jan 15;
SINGAPORE - Off the southern shores of Singapore just a 15-minute boat ride away, is a fish farm with a mission to provide consumers with the freshest barramundi possible.
AsiaOne recently had the opportunity to visit Kuhlbarra, Singapore's largest commercial fish farm. It is also the first to raise barramundi, a type of seabass.
The fish is highly nutritious, being low in fat and high in Omega-3 fatty acids, which fend off the risk of heart disease.
The people behind Kuhlbarra emphasise their "farm to fork" model heavily, meaning that an order of fish will go straight to the doorstep, cutting out middlemen such as supermarkets.
This allows the consumer to know exactly how fresh their barramundi is.
The barramundi are harvested to match orders, then filleted and vacuum packed at a nearby processing plant before being sent directly to the customer, a process taking just less than 48 hours.
To preserve the freshness and the flavour of the fish, the barramundi are kept chilled throughout the processing period, even from the moment they are harvested.
After the fish is delivered promptly, fish lovers will be delighted to know that barramundi can be prepared in a myriad of ways, ranging from a hearty deep-fried version to the traditional steamed fish.
Barramundi is known for its flaky texture, and its mild and sweet taste.
As expected, the barramundi dishes that AsiaOne sampled did not have the slightest hint of fishiness at all.
Managing Director of Kuhlbarra, Mr Joep Kleine Staarman, offered us his favourite recipe: "Put it in a pan and slather it with unhealthy amounts of butter, and just a little bit of olive oil.
"But not so much that it becomes healthy," he joked.
Kuhlbarra has been in business since 2007 under the name Barramundi Asia. The re-branding this year is part of an ongoing process to attach a distinct identity to their products.
As an introductory promotion, Kuhlbarra is currently offering cuts of its barramundi at $50/kg.
For more information, go to http://www.kuhlbarra.com/.
A fortune in fish
Godwin Ng The New Paper AsiaOne 4 Feb 15;
SINGAPORE - For the last six years, he has been living in a small container in the middle of the ocean.
The only time Mr Sagadevan Santhosh, 26, an Indian national, sees land is during his monthly visit to Singapore - a 30-minute boat ride away - to remit money.
But the farm site manager at Barramundi Asia, Singapore's largest commercial fish farm, doesn't mind the isolation.
"I like the peace and quiet of the sea," said Mr Santhosh.
Mr Santhosh, who used to be a fisherman in India, is a farm site manager at Barramundi Asia.
The farm produces 500 tonnes of barramundi (sea bass) a year in its 7.5ha farm off Pulau Semakau. That's roughly the size of 10 football fields.
Every day, Mr Santhosh mends the nets, feeds the fishes and makes sure they are growing well.
"I like my job. It's a very simple lifestyle." When he runs out of necessities, he gets his boss, Mr Joep Kleine Staarman, to buy them for him. "He's a very nice boss. Last year, he gave me four months' leave to get married in India."
BIGGEST
Mr Staarman, 57, is the founder of Barramundi Asia, one of the world's largest barramundi suppliers.
But it was only 14 years ago that he had his first taste of the fish that he farms.
He told The New Paper: "I ate my first barramundi when I was 43. Now, I eat it every day."
Although his love affair with barramundi started late, Mr Staarman is no stranger to fish farming.
The Dutchman, who studied aquaculture in Netherlands' Wageningen University, set up his own company in 1985 building fish farms across southern Europe.
In 1992, he joined British Petroleum and managed its trout farms in Italy, before switching to making fish feed.
He then worked for Marine Harvest as its managing director for the Asia Pacific region, which brought him to Singapore in 2006.
DECIDED TO STAY
Mr Staarman, who is married and has three daughters, said: "When my contract ended in 2008, my family didn't want to leave Singapore.
"Since I know about making fish feed, building a fish farm and running it, why not do everything myself?
"I thought that maybe I could set up my own fish farm."
So in June 2008, Mr Staarman did just that.
But the first few years of operation was not all smooth sailing.
"It was a lot more difficult than I thought," he said.
"I didn't know anything about processing, filleting and marketing in the beginning. It took around four years for everything to run smoothly."
The farm, which started out with one cage, now houses 19 cages, each with 50,000 fish.
His company launched its online retail platform, www.kuhlbarra.com, at the start of the year while a second 12ha farm is slated to begin operations next year.
Barramundi Asia exports its fish to Australia and supplies to local hotels and restaurants like Wild Rocket and The Naked Finn.
Said Mr Staarman: "Things are better now but there's much more work to do."
