The unique farming concept combines food production with restoring depleted mud crabs in the wild. ST PHOTO: HESTER TAN
SINGAPORE/BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN: In a few years, seafood lovers could be digging into chilli crab and fried soft-shell crabs that come from a mangrove in Brunei.
But these mud crabs will be first bred in a lab, to be released to their natural mangrove habitats after they become crablets.
A portion of the repopulated crabs will be caught and fattened up in an indoor farm in Brunei before being harvested for food.
This unique farming concept – which combines food production with restoring depleted mud crabs in the wild – was developed by Aquast, a fledgling Singapore farm, and Temasek Polytechnic’s Aquaculture Innovation Centre (AIC).
Aquast is a subsidiary of 112-year-old seafood importer and wholesaler Lean Hup Fisheries, and is led by its founder Edison Tan, who represents the business’ fourth-generation team.
Mr Tan’s desire to start a home-grown high-tech crab farm stemmed from seeing his mud crab imports’ fluctuations in quality, size and price over the years – key signs of depleting wild stocks. Much of the mud crab industry worldwide has been reliant on capture-based farming – where mud crabs are taken from the wild and fattened up in farms.
“We wanted to have a controlled source of production for our customers. So that we can guarantee constant prices and quantities for their peace of mind,” said Mr Tan, 49.
He then learnt about AIC, the only centre that regularly does research on mud crabs in Singapore. AIC’s hatchery methods and technology will be licensed to Aquast, which will build a pilot hatchery in Brunei.
Mr Tan decided to set up a farm in Brunei instead of Singapore to take advantage of lower land and operating costs. He declined to name the mangrove and farm site since they are still working out details with the Brunei authorities. About 16ha of land is expected to be set aside for Aquast.
In the mangrove, the crabs will grow and eat naturally. This means that Aquast can save on some crab rearing and feed costs, noted AIC’s centre director, Dr Lee Chee Wee.
Jobs will be created as more mangrove staff will be needed to collect crabs for farming. Every time older crabs are harvested, the hatchery will release a new batch of juvenile crabs into the mangrove, he said.
A section of the Aquaculture Innovation Centre’s R&D farm and facility at Neo Tiew Crescent. ST PHOTO: HESTER TAN
Aquast’s high-tech farming system will be designed as a long, narrow raceway or channel that can mimic a coastal mangrove habitat with artificial waves and tides. Each crab will be placed in compartments or boxes to prevent attacks among themselves, as mud crabs are cannibalistic.
Mr Tan hopes to start the pilot farm in Brunei by end-2024.
The system will use smart cameras, sensors and artificial intelligence to spot crabs that are shedding their shells. Mr Tan also plans to set up an automated harvesting arm to pick up newly moulted crabs to sell as soft-shell crabs.
Technology is needed to monitor soft-shell crabs since their shells harden within four hours, he added.
In some farms abroad, workers will cut or pull crabs’ legs to induce moulting, if the farms are in a rush to produce soft-shell crabs, said Dr Collin Shelley, founder of mud crab consultancy Scylla, based in Australia. He added that such practices result in inferior quality soft shell crabs.
Three months ago at AIC’s research facility in Neo Tiew Crescent, Mr Tan set up a prototype farming system fitted with sensors to track water quality and a biological treatment system, among other things. - The Straits Times/ANN
