SINGAPORE - Minister for National Development Khaw Boon Wan has said the ministry and the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) "will do our utmost to help our farmers" who were hit by mass fish deaths at coastal fish farms this month.
Get the full story from The Straits Times.
Here is Mr Khaw's full posting dated Feb 12:
I read with great concern that some of our fish farms, especially those in the North Eastern shores, off Changi and Pulau Ubin, have experienced mass deaths of fish over the last week. Apparently, this was likely caused by neap tide and hot weather.
This is every fish farmer's fear and I feel sorry for their plight - not only is their livelihood impacted, it must be very painful to see their prized stocks wiped out suddenly.
AVA has been working closely with the farmers to try and salvage the situation since last weekend. AVA/CEO Ms Tan Poh Hong, who spent an afternoon at the farms yesterday, told me that the situation was serious.
Many farms are grappling with large numbers of dead fish. Those farms rearing more susceptible species like grouper, threadfin and golden trevally are more badly affected. Some had lost their entire stocks.
We will do our utmost to help our farmers.
We had immediately sent in more workers to deploy aeration systems to help normalise the water conditions and also to assist in the disposal of dead fish.
I have asked MND and AVA to continue to help our farmers and look into their requests to see how best we can help them in the current situation.
While we cannot control the tide and what nature has in store for us, we will extend a helping hand, wherever possible, to help those affected ride out this rough patch.