Thursday, January 20, 2011

Singapore fish farms aim to net huge harvest

Singapore, Some fish farmers here do not want to be small fry. That is why 24 of them have banded together to form a cooperative, to reel in larger harvests and net better deals from buyers and suppliers. The first farm co-op here, the Singapore Marine Aquaculture Cooperative was given the green light two weeks ago. An application had been filed with the Registry of Co-operative Societies in September last year.

The 24 members own eight fish farms in total, each more than half a hectare in size. The co-op’s goal is to scale up production of the four main types of fish reared here - seabass, tiger grouper, red snapper and golden trevally - to an average of 120 tonnes a month for each farm by next year. In the whole of last year, each harvested an average of 60 tonnes of fish. The fish, fattened up from fry from countries such as Indonesia and Taiwan, will be sold at wet markets, restaurants and supermarkets.

The co-op has inked a contract to buy 800,000 fish fry a month until April next year from a hatchery in Indonesia, said the co-op’s founder Philip Lim, owner of a fish farm in Pasir Ris. ‘Without a co-op, farmers cannot get consistent supplies of fish fry or feed as suppliers cannot be bothered to sign contracts with such small players,’ he added, noting that bulk buying also reduces costs. Read more...

This blog is written by Martin Little The Aquaculturists, published and supported by the International Aquafeed Magazine from Perendale Publishers.

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