Speech by SMS Koh Poh Koon at AquaRealm 2017

Jun 15, 2017

A very good morning and thank you for having me here this morning. It’s a great pleasure to be here for this inaugural AquaRealm 2017. And, this is a very unique format where you have the industry, academia, and the participation of students in a conference, bringing industry and academia closer together. This is a unique opportunity for our students to experience first-hand, the complexity of organising a conference like this, and have a chance to interact with industry to understand the trends, and the application of what they have learnt, in the real world. 

I understand that the organisers have brought together international experts to talk about the challenges and opportunities faced by the ornamental fish industry. This is timely since we are living in an age of disruption – everywhere you look, you are seeing technological disruptions happening. Every industry will need to respond to globalisation and the changes that are being brought by demography and technology. The ornamental fish industry in Singapore is no exception in facing these challenges. Since we are here with all the experts, and the industry, as well as academia, let me take this opportunity to highlight three challenges that we need to tackle together, and the opportunities that these challenges actually present as well. 

Limitations of Land 

The greatest challenge we face in Singapore is our limited land. As a small city state of 719 square kilometres and in fact, from one end to another is 50km, we definitely have this fundamental reality of a shortage of land space. But we have overcome this challenge by using the land we have more wisely and intensely over the years. For instance, companies like Qian Hu Corporation have developed intensive multi-tier automated recirculation systems. These types of multi-tier systems increase the holding capacity, while using just half the amount of water. They also use less manpower. Leveraging on these sort of technologies enables us to do more with less space and less manpower. They also enable us to move indoors, which opens up more locations for ornamental fish farms in Singapore. 

Another way to overcome our land constraints is to internationalise. Our ornamental fish companies have always served markets beyond Singapore and have done so for decades. The reason is obvious. This is necessary because our size is small, our market size is limited, and so there will be difficulty in generating enough demand for such ornamental fishes in Singapore alone. But beyond exporting, some of our companies also are venturing abroad, while retaining the value-added operations, such as intensive R&D, in Singapore. Earlier this year, I had an opportunity and the honour of witnessing the ground-breaking ceremony of KR Apollo – a joint venture between Singapore’s Apollo Aquaculture Group and a Bruneian investor. The company is transforming a 12-hectare site in Brunei into a high-tech vertical fish farm for both food fish and ornamental fish. 

Quality Assurance

The second challenge is maintaining our reputation for quality. Our ornamental fish industry has succeeded thus far in creating a brand that is known for its quality. This is an effort that has taken time, effort, and commitment. And we did it through partnership with industry and government.

Over the years, our industry worked closely with AVA to ensure that Singapore’s export consignments met the increasing demands of fish quality and health. Today, Singapore’s export certificates continue to be widely accepted internationally by major importing countries like USA, Japan, Canada, and the EU member States.

But we cannot take things for granted and rest on our laurels. Global import regulations and requirements for ornamental fish will continue to tighten. So we need to continuously improve our bio-security. One way to do so is to farm ornamental fish in a controlled environment indoors. This would, therefore, help to mitigate the risks of diseases. 

There is also scope to work with Institutes of Higher Learning, or IHLs. In Singapore, Temasek Polytechnic (TP) has collaborated with our ornamental fish farms and AVA in various industry-centric aquatic research related to nutrition and pathogen detection. And of course, today’s conference is another one of those plans in which Temasek Polytechnic has brought the collaboration one step further. Timely pathogen detection is crucial for farms producing fish for export. I am always heartened to see our industry tap on the expertise of our IHLs as there are plenty of opportunities for win-win outcomes – the industry gets to improve on their bottom-line through better research, the students get to do good research projects, and perhaps get a glimpse into how work would be like when they eventually join the industry. I also urge IHLs to continue reaching out to any of our farms and to help them transform their research into reality as well.

Attracting the Younger Generation

And the last challenge, we face - manpower challenges are significant ones. Worldwide, the agriculture sector is facing labour shortages. The ornamental fish industry is no exception. Not only is it increasingly difficult to find workers for more laborious tasks, it is also difficult to attract the younger generation into the industry. There is a solution – and that is moving towards innovation, technology and automation. 

Robotics, sensors, and the Internet-of-things (IOT) will become a larger part of the agriculture sector in the future. This also applies to the ornamental fish industry. Using technology will allow us to save on manpower. Coincidentally, these are high tech areas that also appeal to our highly educated, technologically-savvy younger generation. The need to adopt and integrate such technologies into operations will generate both more interesting and also higher-skilled, higher paying jobs. 

We should start paving the way for that right now. For example, our IHLs can play a big role in providing our next generation with the necessary knowledge and skillsets to be future-ready. Temasek Poly has already taken steps in this direction. I remember in June last year, I opened their Centre for Aquaculture and Veterinary Science. Having such a centre of excellence provides critical and useful hands-on training to expose students to emerging systems that our industry is adopting. Temaek Poly has also formed partnerships with the industry to develop customised training programmes for the aquaculture students. I really hope to see more of such partnerships materialising in the future. This is really a good initiative.

Conclusion 

Therefore, while we face many challenges, just like many other industrial sectors and countries in the world, we are also well-poised to seize the opportunities that these challenges present. We have the basic building blocks that have matured over the years – good education system, good nexus between industry and government, and a good communication system between policy makers and industry players. The vision is for an ornamental fish industry that is high-tech, bio-secure, space efficient, exciting and dynamic. I can see that happening in Singapore because we have enterprising industry players who are doing all they can to stay competitive. The fact that you are here today to participate, attests to that. We also have good IHLs who can provide the scientific rigor in collaboration with our industry players to spur innovation and to inspire the next generation. As one of our local fish farmers once told me: “危机就是转机”. This is a Chinese phrase meaning that adversity can also bring about great opportunities. 

Let me end by welcoming all of you to this inaugural conference and wishing you a successful meeting as well as a great time of learning.