if you learn only 3 things about the issue... Commercial fish farms can impact the surrounding habitats. Find out where your fishes come from. Eat less fish, don't throw fishes away.

Singapore's consumption of fish is estimated to be 100,000 tonnes per year of which about 5% is accounted for by local foodfish aquaculture. This is mainly from coastal fish farms. They produce marine foodfish species like groupers, seabass, snappers and milkfish as well as green mussels and crustacean (shrimp/mangrove crabs). There are also freshwater foodfish farms producing snakeheads, tilapia, catfishes and carps and other cyprinids. From Aquaculture in Singapore on the AVA website

In 2010, there were 106 licensed coastal floating fish farms in Singapore, producing 3,235 tonnes of fish valued at $11.4 million in 2008. They accounted for 4-5% of the fish consumed annually in Singapore. From Plankton bloom hits Pulau Ubin fish farms Melissa Sim, Straits Times 2 Jan 10;

Why farm fishes?

Some broad goals of acquaculture

• Reduce costs of searching, catching and transporting fish.
  
• Stable and predictable supply of fish. Not necessarily achieved as mass deaths of stock can occur.
• Reduce overharvesting of wild fishes. Not necessarily achieved as wild fishes are still caught, to feed the farm fishes.

Some effects of acquaculture

• Parasites and diseases from farmed fish can spread to wild marine life.
• Pollution of the surrounding waters by the following that escape from fish farms:
  • Drugs, including antibiotics, given to farmed fish to keep them healthy.
  • Excess and uneaten food given to farmed fish.
  • Wastes of farmed fish.
• Non-native farm fishes which escape can threaten native wild fish.
• Farmed fish are fed pellets made from other fish, depleting other fish species on a global scale. Often the small fishes which are daily staples of poor people are used as feed for larger farmed fishes which are sold as luxury items.
• Setting up and running fish farms can physically impact the surrounding habitat.

What can we do about this?

See also impact of prawn farming.

Links

• Foodfish farming in Singapore on the AVA website: one paragraph description.
• Aquaculture on the David Suzuki Foundation website.
• Some thoughts on the fish kill at Pasir Ris on the Water Quality in Singapore blog.
• From the wild shores of singapore blog
  • Aquaculture: where does the fish poop go?
  • What goes on at Singapore's largest commercial fish farm?
  • Boosting fish farming in Singapore: what environmental impact?
  • Farming fishes in cages harms wild fishes
  • Coastal fish farms: where does the fish waste go?
  • Why are there so many dead fish at Pasir Ris?
  • A closer look at dead fish found on Pasir Ris
  • 'Dead fish zone' hits Pulau Ubin
  • Update of mass fish deaths at Pasir Ris and Pulau Ubin
  • All posts on aquaculture

Aquaculture in Singapore:

Some media key articles

• Singapore's food supply to be enhanced by two funds worth S$5m Ng Lian Cheong/Satish Cheney, Channel NewsAsia 10 Dec 09;
• Plankton bloom hits Pulau Ubin fish farms Melissa Sim, Straits Times 2 Jan 10;
• 200,000 fish in farms off Pasir Ris dead Plankton bloom causes losses reaching hundreds of thousands of dollars Carolyn Quek & Jessica Lim, Straits Times 1 Jan 10
• Fish farms in west spared from plankton woes Irene Tham, Straits Times 3 Jan 10;
• More media articles about aquaculture