ST : Ornamental fish farms may get tenancy reprieve

May 10, 2010

Ornamental fish farms may get tenancy reprieve

Exporters fear lack of time to set up at new sites when leases end

By Jessica Lim

FISH exporters in Jalan Kayu worried about their leases expiring at the year end may well get a reprieve.

The Singapore Land Authority (SLA) told The Straits Times that it is working closely with relevant agencies to extend the tenancies. The 17 affected exporters account for about 80 per cent of Singapore's ornamental fish export industry, which, as a world leader, is worth around $100 million a year.

The land these exporters now occupy is being taken back by the Government for redevelopment. The exporters are worried they may have to wind up their businesses if they cannot be relocated elsewhere by Dec 31, when their leases expire. The SLA has released four plots of land for tender as alternative sites for the fish farms, but the land area is not enough to take in all the affected farms.

Already, 14 of the 17 Jalan Kayu farms have submitted 19 bids for these four plots, with some farms submitting more than one bid; the remaining three affected farms are thinking of shutting down.

The SLA has designated another 10 sites in Yishun for the fish exporters, but these will go up for tender only at the end of the month.

Those in the business are worried on two counts: One is that the entry of new bidders will narrow their chances of securing a site. The other worry - a bigger one - is the lack of time in which to get their new farms up and running by the year end.

For now, it is still not known when the tenders will be awarded. The new plots are little more than empty tracts of land now and it will take at least a year to put in the necessary infrastructure such as fish tanks and warehouses, said Mr Fong Ching Loon, 72, who owns Pisces Tropica in Seletar West Farmway 1.

He welcomes the assurance from the SLA, which has said: 'To ensure a smooth transition between Jalan Kayu and the new site, SLA will work closely with the relevant agencies to extend the tenancies in Jalan Kayu.'

Mr Fong, who also chairs the Singapore Aquarium Fish Exporters' Association, said the association's 44 members hope something can be done - and soon.

'If not, we will be forced to stop business for a while, and we will lose customers,' said the exporter, who is nonetheless hedging his chances by submitting bids for two of the four new plots.

The uncertainty has irked some exporters, who have made Singapore the ornamental fish capital of the world.

Ms Pauline Teo, 46, the third-generation owner of the oldest fish-exporting company here, Teo Way Yong & Sons, said her company has moved four times since the 1920s: 'Each time we move, it costs money. We're always worried we'll be told to move.'

She and Mr Fong noted that the business is given more support overseas.

Mr Fong said he learnt from an ornamental fish convention in China that a tech park there has been kitted up with a communal filter system that cleans water and pipes oxygen to the tanks.

The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA), which regulates fish exporters here, said it will continue working with them to see what more can be done for the industry.

Dr Ling Kai Huat, its senior ornamental fish specialist, said the tech park Mr Fong mentioned was a commercially driven venture, and that if the exporters here are keen on the system, they can band together to propose and develop it.

'AVA will certainly do its best to support and facilitate such a venture if it is demanded by the local industry.'

limjess@sph.com.sg