High-quality tilapia to be hatched for sustainable fish farms

Centre to produce first batch of selectively bred young seawater fish by early 2026

- Shabana Begum

The high rate of fish mortality in local farms is a major pain point for the Republic's flagging aquaculture sector.

To address this, a farming coalition has started a new centre with the purpose of breeding high-quality baby tilapia fish.

On May 20, Mr Ken Cheong, chief executive of the Singapore Agro-Food Enterprises Federation (Safef), said the National Broodstock Centre for marine tilapia aims to produce its first batch of selectively bred young fish by early 2026 for local farms to purchase.

The six-month-old centre — located at Max Koi Farm in Lim Chu Kang — is managed by Safef and funded by the Singapore Food Agency (SFA).

The aim is for the baby tilapia produced to have desirable traits such as reddish-golden skin, immunity to disease and the ability to grow up to a kilogram in weight.

Having high-quality eggs and baby fish is crucial for viable aquaculture production. Currently, Singapore's fish farms depend on overseas fingerlings, which come in inconsistent quality and may have undergone stress from the long journey, reducing their survival rate, said Mr Cheong.

Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment Koh Poh Koon has said in Parliament that fish mortalities here can reach 80 per cent due to inconsistent quality of eggs and fingerlings.

Safef also leads a farming coalition called The Straits Fish, which comprises five tilapia farms in the Johor Strait and hatcheries.

This team in 2023 pioneered the push to farm saltwater tilapia using sustainable methods that do not harm the marine environment. These include using pelleted fish food instead of expired bread to feed fish.