Study to gauge Singapore's fish-farming capacity

It could have lasting implications for budding aquaculture industry
Audrey Tan In Trondheim, Norway Straits Times 1 Sep 17;

An ongoing study to determine how much fish can be sustainably reared in the farms off Singapore's northern coast could have long-lasting implications for the budding aquaculture industry.

The two-year research study on aquaculture zones is the first of its kind to be commissioned by the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority, and will be completed next August.

AVA said the study will assess and determine the maximum production levels that can be supported in aquaculture zones in the Johor Strait.

The findings could also inform government regulation in aquaculture, Dr Koh Poh Koon, Senior Minister of State for National Development, and Trade and Industry, told The Straits Times during a study trip to Norway last month.

The study comes amid the Government's push for farms here to be more productive, so local food production can become a better buffer during global supply disruptions.

But as important is an answer to the question of the kind of impact large-scale fish farming would have on the ecological balance. Before farmers can think of ramping up production, they have to deal with problems such as the deadly algae blooms that have hit the same area of the Johor Strait several times in the recent past, Dr Koh said.

"Therein lies the challenge - to see if the increase in volume of production would pose ecological problems there that would eventually kill off the entire industry."

The study is being done by Akvaplan-niva AS, a Norwegian research and consultancy firm which focuses on aquaculture and marine/freshwater environments, among other things.

Currently there are 125 fish farms in Singapore, of which seven are land-based. Fish farms here produced a total of 4,851 tonnes of fish last year, accounting for about 10 per cent of total fish consumption.

This is up from the 3,158 tonnes locally produced in 2012, which accounted for 6 per cent of total consumption then.

Dr Koh said one possible area the Government could look into is how the feeding of fish in commercial farms can be regulated.

Some farmers, he said, may feed fish with low-quality feed like bread crumbs or leftover meal, which pollutes the environment.

"If we don't look at how we can regulate such behaviour, it will become increasingly challenging for that piece of coastal area to be viable in the longer term."

Last year, Chile's salmon farming industry was devastated by an algae bloom said to be the worst in the country. The National Geographic reported that the impact could have been exacerbated by poor regulation of the country's aquculture trade.

The study, said Dr Koh, would help the Government engage industry with science and information.

Mr Chan Wei Loong, chair of the Republic Polytechnic's Diploma in Marine Science and Aquaculture programme, said the study is important as it gives an indication of how much fish the body of seawater off Singapore's northern coast can support.

He pointed out that the Johor Strait is narrow and is shared by two sovereign nations. "But it is good to know the current status of the health of the water in the Johor Strait and perhaps this can help us understand the occurrence of the algae blooms in 2014 and 2015 that killed many fish."


Singapore works on rearing fish in closed systems
Audrey Tan Straits Times 1 Sep 17;

Most fish in Singapore are reared in net cages submerged in the sea.

But these open-net cage systems leave the fish susceptible to the elements. Over the past five years, Singapore's fish farmers have seen an oil spill and two harmful algae blooms kill off tonnes of fish.

Closed containment aquaculture systems could solve this problem.

Unlike net cages, these systems separate the water where the fish are kept from the water in the natural environment. These can be tanks placed in barges or on land.

Singapore is now looking into how more coastal farms can use such systems "to safeguard farm production from adverse environmental changes and minimise detrimental impact on farm productivity", said the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA).

In Norway, which has a booming aquaculture industry, farms already use similar closed containment systems to rear salmon.

There are two main types of closed containment systems - the flowthrough and the recirculated aquaculture systems.

In a recirculation mode used by Norwegian farms, which The Straits Times saw during a trip to the Nordic country with local fish farmers and Singapore government officials, the waste water from the containment system is reused.

Using the same stock of water helps the farm save energy as it would not have to constantly heat the cool Nordic water to temperatures ideal for salmon.

The flowthrough method, which some farms in Singapore use, involves treating the water before it enters the system. The water is then discharged without being reused.

In April 2015, AVA awarded a tender to five companies to design and develop closed containment aquaculture systems. One of them is Singapore Aquaculture Technologies, a fish farm located in the Johor Strait. It has been using a closed containment system since 2012.

With the funding given to companies that won the tender, Singapore Aquaculture Technologies built on its earlier prototypes with a better water-filtration system and installed solar panels, which helped to reap energy savings when used with existing diesel generators.

The farm now rears most of its fish in about 90 tanks located on a barge and wooden platform, instead of net cages in the sea.

Co-founder Dirk Eichelberger, 53, said the farm's system involves pumping seawater from a depth of 2m to 4m before filtering it and passing it through ultraviolet light rays to kill almost all organisms, including plankton and bacteria.

As the closed system allows the farmers to control more environmental factors, such as the amount of oxygen dissolved in the water, they can rear more seabass per cubic m - up to 70kg, compared with 15kg for the net-cage systems.

AVA told The Straits Times this week it has been working with the companies on their projects, including providing technical assistance.

A spokesman said all five companies have finished the projects and demonstrated the systems to AVA.

"The completed projects have developed workable prototypes that are different in concept to cater to different operations... The companies have shared their new systems with other farmers through AVA-organised workshops," she said.

Audrey Tan

Robot can make light work of net cleaning
Audrey Tan Straits Times 1 Sep 17;

Hoisting nets out of the sea for cleaning is a back-breaking task.

Yet, it is a job that fish farmers in Singapore have to do regularly - about once every three days - to ensure the nets do not get clogged and that reared fish can grow healthily.

However, new technology in the form of underwater robots could make light work of this.

Such robots recently caught the eye of local fish farmers at Aqua Nor - the world's largest aquaculture technology exhibition held in Trondheim, Norway, last month.

The robots, which cost about $200,000 each, can be remotely controlled from land.

They work by plying the nets and cleaning them with high-pressure pumps. This way, substances clogging the nets, such as algae or mussels, can be flushed out.

There are also built-in cameras on these robots, which will help the farmers see if the net has been cleaned to their satisfaction, or if another round of cleaning is needed. They also enable farmers to check for holes in the net.

It is a technology that fish farmer Frank Tan, 43, is considering for his farm in the Johor Strait, where many of Singapore's other coastal fish farms are located.

At most of these farms, nets are left submerged in the sea to house fish. However, they are easily dirtied in Singapore's nutrient-rich waters.

For example, when algae or soft coral grow on the nets, water flow is obstructed and oxygen levels are reduced. The debris, which includes algae, also prevents currents from flushing out fish waste, which could cause bacteria to grow.

Speaking to The Straits Times on the sidelines of the exhibition in Norway, Mr Tan, managing director of Marine Life Aquaculture, said: "Each net is cleaned once every three days. But because we have many pens, nets are hoisted and washed almost every day."

He said that each net, when dry, weighs about 1,200kg. However, it feels twice as heavy when it is wet. As many as six workers are needed to hoist a net each time.

But with the robot, Mr Tan predicts the job can be done by just one person, and only once a week.

Said Mr Tan: "The robotic net washer will save me a lot of time and man hours. It will also help to boost productivity, as I can clean the net with the fishes still in there." Currently, fishes have to be manually moved to a different pen whenever a net is being washed.

Mr Tan was part of a delegation from Singapore which visited Norway last month to attend the Aqua Nor exhibition and to learn about Norwegian aquaculture technologies and methods.

Led by Senior Minister of State for National Development Koh Poh Koon, the delegation comprised fish farmers as well as officials from the Ministry of National Development, the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) and other agencies.

Mr Tan said he plans to apply for AVA's Agriculture Productivity Fund to co-fund the purchase of the robot. He said: "This trip provided a good opportunity and platform for government officials and fish farmers to come together and discuss how various technologies could be applied in Singapore's coastal farms to increase productivity and capacity.

"With such discussions between regulator and farmers, traditional fish farming could turn into a new high-tech industry and play an import role in national food resilience."

Fishing for tech solutions to make feeding a breeze
S'pore fish farmers looking into adopting automated systems to boost productivity
Audrey Tan Straits Times 1 Sep 17;

Fish feed is hardly gourmet grub, but to some fish farmers, the protein-rich pellets could very well be.

This is because up to 70 per cent of the cost of rearing one fish goes to feeding it.

Commercial fish feed looks like dry dog food, and usually contains a mix of algae, a protein source such as fishmeal or soya bean, and other vitamins.

Some fish farmers in Singapore are now eager to see how technology can be used to make the feeding process more efficient.

Barramundi Asia fish farmers, for example, are considering investing in an automatic remote feeding system that will allow them to monitor how much feed is given, and whether the fish are eating it. This will reduce overfeeding, and help the farm cut costs.

Such systems were on display last month at an aquaculture technology exhibition in Norway, attended by Singapore fish farmers and government officials.

"This system will help us ensure the feed does not get wasted, and will also eliminate manpower requirements," said Mr Andrew Kwan, group managing director of Commonwealth Capital, a majority owner of Barramundi Asia.

Mr Kwan, 50, attended the exhibition with the farm's managing director Joep Staarman, 59, and board member Hans den Bieman, 58.

Currently, workers at the farm off Singapore's southern coast feed the fish manually by scattering the fish feed into the sea pens. About six workers are needed to do this.

The automated system comprises a sophisticated network of sensors, cameras and control panels that allow a person sitting in a control room to monitor how much feed is being dispensed, and whether the fish are eating it.

"The person in the control room who is in charge of feeding the fish will be able to monitor the consumption of the feed by the fish, and the moment they are satiated, the food supply can be cut," said Mr Kwan.

"Seventy per cent of the cost of producing fish comes from the feed alone. Being able to control and manage that efficiently will impact the bottom line tremendously," he added.

Mr Chan Wei Loong, programme chair at Republic Polytechnic's Diploma in Marine Science and Aquaculture programme, said most farmed fish do not know satiation and will eat as long as there is food.

An automated system that dispenses the correct amount of feed at predetermined intervals could help to reduce manpower needs, he said. Farmers usually determine the amount of feed based on the estimated weight of fish in each cage.

"It enhances productivity by having the human deployed to do something else," said Mr Chan.

70%: Percentage of the cost of rearing one fish that is spent on feeding it.

New oral vaccine for farmed fish can be put in feed
Audrey Tan Straits Times 1 Sep 17;

When it comes to putting healthy fish on the dinner table, experts believe vaccination is the way to go.

But it is a laborious process.

Workers at fish farms have to manually inject young fish with the vaccine one by one in order to protect them against specific diseases.

But scientists at Temasek Polytechnic (TP) are working with an Israeli partner to develop an easier process that will allow farmers to mix the vaccine in the fish feed.

The oral vaccine against fish iridovirus - a common disease in farmed fish that can kill them - was developed by inserting parts of the iridovirus into a special type of microalgae, which are then mixed with feed and fed to the fish.

For the Temasek Polytechnic scientists, the key to developing the oral vaccine was finding a substance that could encapsulate the biological compounds in a way that would prevent it from being destroyed by fish stomach acids.

They worked with Israeli biotechnology company TransAlgae to develop a novel algae-based technology that allows for the oral delivery of protein-based drugs, such as vaccines, to animals.

This method uses a strain of algae that can withstand acids in the fish's digestive tract.

Dr Ofra Chen, vice-president of research and development at TransAlgae Israel, told The Straits Times: "The specific algae cell wall... protects the vaccine from degradation in the animal digestive system and enables its delivery in its intact and functional form."

While antibiotics are chemical compounds designed to kill bacteria, vaccines are preventive. They contain biological compounds that boost the fish's own immune system against the virus.

Vaccinating fish against specific diseases reduces the need to treat them with antibiotics when they are sick.

When humans consume antibiotics-fed fish, there is the possibility of residual traces of the drug passing through the food chain and ending up in the bellies of humans, which could build up a resistance to antibiotics.

The hope is that this would encourage wider adoption of vaccines here when rolled out commercially by 2021, reducing farmers' reliance on antibiotics and leading to healthier fish, said team lead Diana Chan, head of the Centre for Aquaculture and Veterinary Science at Temasek Polytechnic's School of Applied Science.

The Straits Times reported in May this year that only three of about 120 fish farms here have started vaccinating their fish manually.

A spokesman for the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) said fish vaccines have helped to reduce disease occurrence in farmed fish, and contributed to the sustainable growth of aquaculture in many countries.

She noted several advantages of oral vaccinations for fish.

"It is a quick and easy way to vaccinate a large number of fish, causes less stress to the fish, requires less time and effort to administer, and can be given to fish of all sizes, including those too small to be handled for injections," said the spokesman.

She added that farms should choose the vaccine administration method that suits them best.

"For example, farmers can choose to vaccinate smaller fish with oral vaccines and subsequently boost their immunity with repeated doses of the same oral vaccine, or an injectable version of the vaccine."

Audrey Tan