Suspension lifted at some fish farms

Some of the 12 fish farms in the East Johor Strait have had their sales suspension lifted after a collision between two container vessels in the strait separating Singapore and Malaysia on Jan 4, resulting in roughly 300 tonnes of oil being spilled into the surrounding waters. ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG

Some of the 12 fish farms in the East Johor Strait have had their sales suspension lifted.

The announcement by the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) yesterday came in the wake of a collision between two container vessels in the strait separating Singapore and Malaysia on Jan 4.

The collision resulted in roughly 300 tonnes of oil being spilled into the surrounding waters.

As of yesterday, two farms which produced only fish were allowed to sell their stocks.

While another nine farms were given the green light to sell their fish, the sales suspension was not lifted for crustaceans and molluscs sold by these farms due to ongoing food-safety evaluation, AVA said. Similarly, the sales suspension remained for one farm which produced only molluscs.

An AVA spokesman said: "Most of the farms in the East Johor Strait have completed clean-up and put up mitigation measures to prevent re-entry of residual oil.

"Fish samples collected from the farms have also passed our food-safety evaluation."

Meanwhile, AVA will continue to monitor the situation and conduct sampling at the East Johor Strait coastal fish farms.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on January 21, 2017, with the headline Suspension lifted at some fish farms. Subscribe