A National Broodstock Centre (NBC) for marine tilapia has been established by the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) and Singapore Agro-Food Enterprises Federation (SAFEF) to help bolster food security by supplying local farms with genetically superior eggs and fingerlings with higher rates of survival. This will ensure a constant supply of good quality baby fish from the NBC is expected to help local farms scale up production, said the Singapore Agro-Food Enterprises Federation (SAFEF), reported CNA Asia and New Straits Times.
On May 20, Ken Cheong, chief executive of SAFEF, said the NBC 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 SFA. The aim is for the tilapia fry 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 imports of fingerlings, which come in inconsistent quality and may have undergone stress from the long journey, reducing their survival rate, said Cheong.
The Straits Fish
SAFEF is also leading a a farming coalition called The Straits Fish, which comprises five tilapia farms in the Johor Strait and hatcheries.
The tilapia fry produced by the NBC will be sold only to farms that join The Straits Fish or adhere to sustainable farming practices, said Cheong. This is part of SAFEF push to raise farming standards in the Johor Strait. The Straits Fish players include Heng Heng Fish Farm, Millenia Farm and a hatchery called Century Aquaculture. A 200g pack of tilapia fillets under The Straits Fish brand costs $6.90 on FairPrice’s website.
The centre for tilapia is one of two facilities under Singapore’s Aquaculture Plan to overhaul the Republic’s aquaculture sector. The other broodstock centre is in the SFA-run Marine Aquaculture Centre on St John’s Island, which has been running an Asian sea bass breeding program for years.
Some of the more fast-growing juveniles that have other desirable traits will be selected to form the first generation of brooder fish. Brooders are mature fish kept for breeding purposes.
Most of their offspring will be sent to the Century Aquaculture hatchery nearby and then sold to The Straits Fish farms in early 2026, to grow them to maturity. The rest of the offspring will become the next generation of brooders at the centre, as it takes several breeding cycles to produce the high-quality fish the broodstock centre is aiming for.
Cheong has also sourced baby tilapia from breeding programmes abroad to improve the quality of future offspring. Eventually, the centre will also employ the help of university researchers who can further study the fish’s genes to identify superior individuals.
One issue Cheong hopes to tackle through research is the growth of the red tilapia. Currently, red tilapia can grow only up to 700g, not large enough for filleting. Faster growth means better revenue, said Cheong, who added: “A reduction of one month in the growth cycle is a 12 per cent increase in revenue.”
Seawater tilapia is unlike freshwater tilapia, which is grown in ponds and may have an unappealing off flavour which marine tilapia do not have.
Tilapia under The Straits Fish brand is sold in eight FairPrice outlets, at Qian Hu Fish Farm, at the three Keng Eng Kee Seafood restaurants, as well as online on RedMart. Currently, the five farms harvest 600kg of tilapia each week.
