Traceability and Sustainability in Singapore’s Seafood Heritage

By Shawn Wongosari

 

We Singaporeans love our seafood. Our country’s seafood scene has certainly left us spoilt for choice, with dishes ranging from the iconic chilli crab to the more understated sliced fish soup. However, beyond our general awareness of the various seafood dishes in existence, how many of us truly understand the complexities, processes, and environmental impacts behind the making of our favourite seafood dishes? Chances are, not many of us do.

To bridge this gap in understanding, we at NUS Libraries have organised Fish Tales: The Story of Singapore’s Seafood Heritage. This Researcher Unbound event is part of our ongoing Biodiversity Seminar Series, which aims to share research findings on biodiversity in Southeast Asia and insights on ecosystem dynamics.

Joining us as our guest presenter is Mr Elliott James Ong, an alumnus of Yale-NUS College’s (YNC) Environmental Studies programme, an enthusiastic environmentalist, and founder of Pasarfish SG – an education and research platform that documents the cultural, economic, and ecological life of Tekka Market’s fish diversity.

Moderated by YNC’s A/P Anthony Medrano, Elliott’s talk discusses his work at Pasarfish SG. Here, he and his dedicated group of research assistants identify and catalogue data on the various types of fish species found in Singapore’s wet markets. Ultimately, Pasarfish SG’s efforts are targeted at improving the traceability and transparency of information regarding potentially overfished fish species and how it can promote the sustainable consumption of fish species found in our beloved local seafood dishes.

One key takeaway from Elliott’s presentation is the way in which Pasarfish SG addresses the problem of overfishing: education and public outreach. A part of their outreach comes in the form of guided tours of Tekka Market and Jurong Fish Market, where participants can expect to be informed about the types of fish used in cooking, types of fish available in the wet markets, the respective fishing methods used to catch them, the local names of each species, their logistics, culinary uses and their countries of origin.

According to Elliott, an example of how one might consume fish more sustainably is the purchase of fish with food labels that denote locally farmed fish or fish caught using responsible fishing and aquacultural methods. These labels are put out by agencies such as the Marine Stewardship Council, Aquaculture Stewardship Council, and the Singapore Food Agency.

Another suggested way to consume fish sustainably is to opt for more abundant or seasonal fish species in favour of more endangered ones. For example, if one is making sliced fish soup, one could opt to use Toman or Snakehead fish (Channa micropeltes) instead of the near-threatened Batang or Narrow-barred Spanish mackerel (Scomberomorus commerson).

Overall, such outreach efforts as the ones led by Elliott and Pasarfish SG are vital in the long run as they guide us into making more informed decisions as consumers, which translate into more sustainable fish consumption patterns and a reduced risk of depleted fishery resources for future generations.

 

The Ethos of Environmental Studies

Recalling back one of Elliott’s earlier presentation slides, I was intrigued by a set of statistics he had shown about seafood consumption. According to Elliott’s slides, 1/3 of fish stocks are overfished; 50 million people in Asia depend on the fisheries industry as a source of livelihood; 38% of protein consumption in Southeast Asia stems from seafood; each Singaporean, on average, consumes approximately 22 kilograms of seafood annually.

Upon seeing these figures, it dawned upon me just how vital aquatic ecosystems are to us humans and the large extent to which our lives are intertwined with the aquatic ecosystem, economically and culturally. This human-fish relationship is not just a reflection of the thematic approach of Elliott’s seminar, but also the ethos of the burgeoning field of scholarship that is Environmental Studies – a broader context through which one could reflect on Pasarfish SG’s work.

For the benefit of those unfamiliar with the field, let me put forth a formal definition of Environmental Studies:

According to a quote by Alston (2007), Environmental Studies is a field that “enables a questioning of the relations of power, agency, and responsibility to human and nonhuman environment. (Adamson, Gleason and Pellow, 2016, p.1).

Essentially, Environmental Studies is a multidisciplinary field that attempts to straddle the boundaries between what was previously thought of as, in the words of (Latour, 1991, p. 10), the “two entirely distinct ontological zones” of human culture (i.e. social sciences, humanities) and non-human culture (i.e. natural and physical sciences).

Environmental Studies, as a methodology, posits that everything is environmental (Schneider-Mayerson, 2020, p. 10). It does so by making clear the connections between humans and the environment. Take the problem of overfishing from Elliott’s talk for instance: should populations of fish species dwindle to endangered levels, the communities and livelihoods of those who work in the fisheries industry would inevitably be adversely affected. Human actions, specifically, in this case, seafood consumption patterns, are not inconsequential or insulated from the wider ecosystem.

By understanding this relationship, I then understood why Elliott and Pasarfish SG are trying their best to educate the public on sustainable consumption, the problem of overfishing, and to improve the traceability of fish species in our wet markets. Pasarfish SG’s promotion of sustainable consumption of fish in our local context is a prime example of an application of Environmental Studies in the real world – where one recognises the repercussions of environmental problems on both humans and the wider ecosystem, alongside implementing solutions to addressing them.

 

Learning more about Fish and the Environment

After Elliott’s insightful talk, I decided to dig up related literature regarding Environmental Studies, seafood, fish and fishing in Singapore. Here’s what I had selected from NUS Libraries’ collection:

Cher, R. M. L. (1980). Marketing and distribution of fresh fish in Singapore [Thesis]. National University of Singapore.

This is an undergraduate thesis submitted to the NUS Department of Geography. The focus of this thesis is to study the organisation of marketing and distribution of fresh fish and the hierarchy of fish traders involved. He does so by explaining the structure of distributive channels and how traders and buyers facilitate sales of fish. An overview of Singapore’s fresh fish industry is laid out, including the nature of the industry, production, imports and exports. Facilities for marketing and distribution of fish were also studied by examining the operations and structures of wholesale markets and retailers such as Jurong Fishing Port, Central Fish Auction Market, and the Upper Serangoon Central Fish Market. Overall, Cher’s thesis serves as a potentially useful complement to Elliott’s public outreach efforts as it makes transparent the detailed aspects of the fishery supply chain which meets Pasarfish SG’s objective of improved traceability in Singapore’s fish supply to consumers. 

Chou, C. G. H. (1986). Kelongs in transition: an aspect of the fishing industry in Singapore. National University of Singapore. (Bachelor’s Thesis)

This is an undergraduate thesis submitted to the NUS Department of Sociology. Here, Chou examines Kelongs in the Punggol-Changi region of Singapore and how they evolved into the modern fish-farm industry. In Singapore and Malaysia, Kelongs refer to offshore over-water fishing platforms, typically made of wood. One aspect of Chou’s thesis that piqued my interest is her ethnographic approach to research. She makes use of printed photographs, oral interviews and observational data from her fieldwork in documenting the lives of those working on the Kelongs. Such accounts offer a glimpse of a community that was, at the time, increasingly being phased out by more modern fish production techniques.  

Chou, C. (2009). The Orang Suku Laut of Riau, Indonesia: the inalienable gift of territory (1st ed.). Routledge.

Chou’s book provides an excellent, comprehensive overview of the lives of the Orang Laut, or ‘sea people’ as they are known in Malay or Bahasa Indonesia. In one of her chapters on ‘The Fishing Economy,’ Chou goes in-depth to show how fishing is deeply intertwined with their cultural identity. According to her, there are overlaps between economic production (i.e. fishing) and religion in the beliefs of the Orang Laut people. Fishing is perceived by the Orang Laut to be an activity imbued with religious meaning; a process of exchange between humans and the spiritual world (i.e. fish and other aquatic animals). This exchange refers to the process where humans obtain sustenance from the sea and, in return, offer reverence and appeasement to the sea and its creatures. Chou elucidates that mutual respect between the two worlds is maintained by upholding the practice of not fishing more than one’s necessary means. This mindfulness of one’s surrounding ecosystem is not only distinctive of the Orang Laut people’s culture but is also, I argue, a useful parable in Environmental Studies and, more importantly, coincides with Pasarfish SG’s advocacy of sustainability.

Lim, K. K. P., Ng, P. K. L., & Centre, S. S. (2000). A guide to the freshwater fishes of Singapore. Singapore Science Centre.

This book by the Singapore Science Centre is a comprehensive guide to the various freshwater fishes that are both indigenous and introduced to Singapore. The guide contains in-depth descriptions of freshwater fish, photos of them, and their anatomies. The book also features the various natural and urban habitats of freshwater fishes in Singapore and their significance in Singaporean society, including their symbolism in decorations, and their ornamental and economic purposes.

Medrano, A. D. (2024). Lala-land: Singapore’s seafood heritage. Epigram Books.

This anthology of essays written by Yale-NUS College students explores how the sea, specifically Singapore’s seafood, has shaped the Singapore story. This book shows how Singapore’s seafood heritage is intertwined with the country’s food, cultures, ecologies and histories through stories of various familiar seafood ingredients such as pufferfish, lala, stingray, and prawns. One chapter also includes Elliott Ong’s essay on the history of fish maw in Singapore, its uses in Chinese cooking, and its evolution from a status symbol of the wealthy to an affordable luxury sold in hawker centres today. What is even more exciting about this book is the different recipes of the respective seafood dishes accompanying each essay, including familiar and some unheard-of dishes such as Har Gau, spicy stingray floss, and catfish in green Sambal Petai – making this book a more fun read!

Schneider-Mayerson, M. (2020). Eating chilli crab in the Anthropocene: environmental perspectives on life in Singapore. Ethos Books.

This other collection of essays, also written by a group of Yale-NUS College students, examines Singapore from an ecocultural lens. Ranging from Javan Mynahs to Changi Airport and Pulau Semakau to Tiger Beer, each essay reflects on how banal, familiar aspects of contemporary Singapore are deeply intertwined with the environment. One essay that garnered my attention was the eponymously named ‘Eating Chili Crab in the Anthropocene.’ In the essay, the author, Neo Xiaoyun, highlights that the narrative of chilli crab as a piece of Singaporean food heritage is a strategically constructed one for tourism purposes. In part of her essay, Neo argues that this phenomenon, coupled with modern consumerism and the profit-maximising motives of inexpensive eateries, could result in the offsetting of the balance of the mangrove ecosystems where (mud) crabs reside. By recognising the relationship between us humans and the mud crab, Neo’s essay, alongside others in the book, shows that everything in our society has environmental repercussions – a way of thinking that is distinctive of Environmental Studies. Such a way of thinking provokes us to rethink our actions and the wider impacts they have on nonhuman lives (i.e. animals, plants) – an important step towards tackling environmental problems in the Anthropocene era and climate change.

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