Sea-based fish farm operators face rising costs and environmental challenges leading to business closures.
In the past year, about a quarter of Singapore’s sea-based fish farms have ceased operations, with some farm operators opting for a financial support package provided by the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) to ease the closure process. The number of sea-based fish farms in operation dropped from 98 in 2023 to 74 in October 2024.
Farm operators who shut down their farms between July 2023 and June 2024 were offered a support package of up to $100,000 to help with the costs of reinstating the sea space. This transition comes as part of a shift to a new sea space management model introduced by the SFA in 2022, which requires farms to pay for the use of sea spaces starting in 2024.
One such operator, Mr. Joseph Wee of Aquablue, decided to retire after accepting the package. He shut down his farm in the East Johor Strait in June 2024 and used the $100,000 to cover the costs of dismantling his farm and conducting environmental surveys. With $60,000 in retirement savings after expenses, Mr. Wee cited rising labor costs and the increasing financial burden of maintaining his farm as key reasons for his decision.
The new sea space fees, set to rise to $3,600 per year per half-hectare by 2026, are expected to make it more expensive for remaining farms to operate. To mitigate this, farms will pay only 20% of the fee in 2024 and 50% in 2025.
