Premature to relocate fish farms over plankton blooms: Maliki

SINGAPORE — With the authorities still studying the causes of the plankton blooms that have led to the recent fish deaths, Minister of State (National Development) Maliki Osman yesterday said it was premature to determine if there was a need for fish farmers to relocate or if plankton blooms will hinder production targets.

Responding to a question tabled by Non-Constituency Member of Parliament Yee Jenn Jong, Dr Maliki said the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) was studying the causes of the plankton blooms in the Johor Straits more comprehensively, to see if they were “simply ad-hoc events or regular occurrences”.

He told Parliament: “It is premature to determine whether there is a need for fish farmers to relocate away from the Johor Straits and whether plankton blooms will significantly hinder us from reaching our 15 per cent local fish production target.”

Last month, up to 600 tonnes of fish from 55 farms were lost because of an algal bloom. Last year, a plankton bloom cost 53 farms about 500 tonnes of fish.

Dr Maliki said the AVA monitors a few indictors of water quality, such as plankton count and dissolved oxygen at the coastal fish farm areas, which allow the authority to give farmers an early warning when adverse conditions are detected.

The AVA was able to alert the farmers to the impending plankton bloom “well ahead of time” and those who heeded its advice averted the worst of the fish kills.

In his supplementary question, Mr Yee asked if there were studies to see if reclamation work affected the environment and if Singapore was confident of hitting its 15 per cent fish production target.

Dr Maliki replied that it was not clear whether ongoing reclamation work in Malaysia caused the fish deaths. He added that the AVA was working with the Tropical Marine Science Institute at the National University of Singapore to conduct studies on plankton bloom and develop solutions to mitigate the problem.

He said the AVA had awarded a tender to five companies to develop sustainable sea-based farming systems that will minimise farms’ exposure to environmental challenges such as plankton bloom.

On meeting the 15 per cent target, the authority is encouraging fish farmers to modernise and explore various options, such as adopting a close-containment system and using high-rise technologies in fish farming.

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