After building his farm, Timothy started stocking fish at the beginning of this year and quickly realized how hard it is to be a fish farmer.  Nets get dirty and fouled within days of being in the sea and need to be cleaned, feed needs to be prepared, and fish need to be cared for.  In spite of the helpful advice of other farmers and his attention and diligence, almost all of his first batch of fish died.  Timothy soon realized that owning a fish farm is like dumping money into the sea but he was already hooked! 

“It is no weekend hobby but a lot of hard work and requires capital, attention, and luck.  Fish farming is now my full time job and I love the lifestyle but if I am going stay in business and be able to support my family I need to focus on good management and production.  After my first fish failure, I tried out a few thousand Golden Trevallys last April and they did not die but actually started growing quite well.” 

He now has 50,000 of Golden Trevally (虎斑瓜, or Daeng Belang in Malay) and continues to expand his production every month.  He is also starting to raise Pompanos (silver pomfret).

Timothy is a businessman, a biologist and a new breed of fish farmers who is applying good management practices to intensively raise Golden Trevally for the local market.  His farm is new but he continues to expand and is focused on increasing his production in line with the Government’s goal of locally producing 15% of our fish consumption.  In his first year, Timothy’s farm, Fin Fisher Pte Ltd will produce over 24 tonnes of fish and he has a goal to continue to double his production annually and be at over 100 tonnes of fish production by his third year of operation.  He says: “This business is not easy, it is a lot of hard work and in spite of all your best effort, sometimes the fish just die.  But with good management and some luck I think it can be a successful business.”  With the Food Fund, the Government is helping fish farmers to expand their farms and increase production but it is still a capital intensive and risky business.  Good Aquaculture Practices help to reduce these risks and keeps the environment clean, the fish disease and chemical free, and delicious to eat.  Fin Fisher Pte Ltd is committed to employing Good Aquaculture Practices and only feeds their Golden Trevallys high quality, commercial feed that has a low environmental impact and they do not use chemicals or antibiotics.