This 10-year-old kelong set up by two army friends and a fishing enthusiast is about 4 acres. The farm rears mainly barramundi, pearl grouper and mussels. The cages in the picture are sheltered because the fishes kept inside are under 500 grams each and are more vulnerable to weather changes.

The kelong used to sell mainly to the restaurants, but their specific request for fishes between the narrow range of 900 grams to 1.1 kilograms is hard to meet, says Bryan. Fishes grow at different rates even in the same rearing conditions. Since last year, Ah Hua offers free home deliveries to boost their B2C sales.

They also catch flower and mud crabs from the wild. Even then, their varieties are far from the range of imported seafood. Singaporean consumers who have been spoiled for choices are more likely to buy from the markets, where the entire range of available seafood are sold. The ideal scenario is if the consumers prioritise local supplies, and buy from amongst the imports whatever that is not available from the local farms.

Ah Hua feeds pellets made of soy beans and fish oil to the younger fishes. These are “slow-sinking” pellets that the fishes can get to before they sink through the nets. It is a common practice to use slaughter house waste for fish feed. According to Bryan, AVA permits this practice, but he believes such feeds bring out an undesirable muddy flavour in the meat.

The kelong buys wild catches to feed the bigger fishes in their farms.

Bryan says they are fit for human consumption.

The workers grind the feed to help the smaller-sized fishes better digest them. The kelong, as with most others in Singapore, says Bryan, does not feed its fishes antibiotics nor vaccinate them. Vaccines and antibiotics would help reduce the death rate, which is now at 30 per cent, but that would rule out the kelong’s option to export to the markets that ban these additives.

The bulk of the cost of running the fish farm is in the feed and the foreign worker levy, says Bryan. Fish farms in the neighbouring countries benefit from lower labour cost and their ability to purchase the feed in bulk and at cheaper prices.

Foreign workers, like Ah Min, a Burmese who has been working at Ah Hua for over a year, are essential to Singapore’s food self-sufficiency. They feed the fishes…

… Clean the nets regularly to ensure the water circulates well, or wastes will build up inside the cages and the fishes will develop a muddy taste.

After all there are only one or two dozens of lobsters to clean off the mussels growing on the fish nets…

… And when it rains too regularly, water salinity and temperature drop. To keep the saltwater fishes alive, Ah Yong (left), the kelong’s Thai worker, will have to work in the rain and lower the nets deeper into the sea, where the water is less affected by the changes in weather conditions.

If no young Singaporeans would be hawker assistants, it is even more unlikely they will accept such living condition, where there is little comfort and plenty of fish odour.

While the high production cost translates to a high selling price, local fishes arrive at the markets fresher than the imports due to proximity; the stringent checks that local authorities put in place also ensure good farming practices. Bryan (right) jokes that AVA visits them more than he wants them to — at least once a month.

Plankton bloom, a rapid accumulation of algae in the sea, first hit the coastal farms less than five years ago. The planktons consume oxygens from the water, suffocating the fishes. With financial assistance from the AVA, the kelong has bought an aerator to increase oxygen supply in the water during the dry months when the bloom occurs.

Although pet dogs alert farm owners to intruders, the list does not include planktons.