By DAWN TAY

TIMES may be tough but there are still riches to be made from the sea.

A group of young entrepreneurs here are optimistic about the industry - enough to make them focus on the local market.

They usually sell their harvest to eateries and the breeds include the pricier cobia and tiger grouper.

They told my paper that while overall demand for fish has dropped slightly, it still outstrips what their small-scale farms can supply.

Now, they have ramped up their efforts to get fresh fish to Singaporean tables. For example, they are looking to improve water quality and to increase survival rates. Currently only 10 to 60 per cent of their fry make it to adulthood.

There are over 100 fish farms here, with room for more. These farms produced just over 4,500 tonnes of fish for consumption in 2007.

That figure represents only 4.5 per cent of the fish consumed here annually.

Among many fish-farm owners are doctors and information- technology professionals.

While live fish - say, a sea bass - may cost a few dollars more than frozen fish sold in wet markets here, live fish are 'healthier and fresher'.

Brisk business was done at a live-seafood sale in Changi Sailing Club last Saturday, where fish farmers sold over $5,000 worth of seafood within a day.

'Singaporeans are getting excited about locally-produced fish,' said Ms Rosemary Lau, 45, general manager of Changi Fishery, a fish farm off Changi.

'There's interest in visiting the kelongs for leisure too.'

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