SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST
While he doesn’t have the resources to do intensive research and innovation, scientists with various agencies do — and Ong has joined hands with them under a new Singapore Food Agency (SFA) programme called AquaPolis.
Introduced in November last year, the aquaculture research development programme brings together research institutes, institutes of higher learning, farms and companies to develop solutions for challenges faced on the ground.
For example, the AquaPolis will see scientists look into developing superior fingerlings with traits such as faster growth rates and lower mortality from common fish diseases.
“There is a need to develop our own methods and solutions in aquaculture, as how we farm fish is different from how other farmers in the region do it,” said Dr Jiang Jun Hui, director of SFA’s aquaculture department. “We need to produce intensively and sustainably, and science can help us achieve it.”
Ong’s The Fish Farmer is one of seven farms that will be part of AquaPolis. His partnership with scientists, however, is not new.
Since 2021, Ong has been working on the selective breeding of red snapper with the SFA’s Marine Aquaculture Centre at St John’s Island, James Cook University and Republic Polytechnic.
“What Malcolm wants is to have a snapper that can grow faster, have a higher survival rate and have better flesh quality, such as higher Omega-3 content,” said Jiang. “To do this, we will need to start selecting snappers that exhibit such traits.”