JUN 08, 2002

CLEAN PICKINGS: Freshly-harvested mussels are washed with seawater and barnacles are scraped off by Mr Lim (centre), his brother Khong Guan (left) and his father, Mr Lim Kiang You. They also sort out the empty shells -- a single knock on the wooden deck tells them which are not fit for sale. Fresh mussels for the Singapore market have to be very clean, they say.

SLOW currents and the confluence of river, sea and rain water make the waters off the coast of Lim Chu Kang perfect for breeding mussels.

But while most mussel farms there still use traditional farming methods, one farmer's innovations have seen his yield jump 30-fold in just five years.

Electrician-turned-mussel farmer Lim Sin Guan started out harvesting just 70 kg of the shellfish daily.

Now, he harvests 2,000 kg of green mussels a day, and his farm has become the largest of four in the area.

With his mobile phone ringing constantly with orders from buyers here and abroad, he even plans to set up a second farm.

The mussel farmer decided to improve on the traditional farming method about two years ago.

Usually, farmers let the plankton-eating shellfish grow on strings tied to a network of wooden rafts.

Eight months later, they haul up the strings, now heavy with mussels, and detach them by foot or hand.

But strong waves can wash mussels off the strings, as the strings are attached to static rafts.

OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW: Some 20,000 mussel strings are suspended from a 60-m-long line of recycled plastic drums in modern mussel farming. This method minimises the use of wood, which is expensive as it has to be of high quality to withstand the corrosive effects of seawater.

Mr Lim decided to grow the shellfish on 2-m-long strings attached to a 60-m stretch of recycled plastic drums instead.

As the plastic drums are light, the mussels bob up and down with the tides, and are less likely to fall off the strings.

Why did he decide to change his farming method?

He said: 'It was a matter of survival.'

He uses a small cement mixer to detach mussels from the strings, instead of doing it by hand.

Now, four workers take five hours, instead of eight, to harvest and wash 300 kg of mussels.

About 40 per cent of his harvest is sold at Jurong Fish Port, a handful of wet market stalls and at NTUC FairPrice supermarkets, for up to 80 cents a kg.

PURE MUSSEL NEEDED: Despite a semi-mechanised harvesting process, some jobs still have to be done by hand. Farm helper Tan Peng Ho fills a bag with washed mussels, which will then be sent by boat and van to Jurong Fish Port. About 40 per cent of the farm's output is sold at local markets.

The rest is sold to a farm in Johor Baru, where the mussel meat is cooked and then brought back here to be frozen and packed for export to Brunei, the Middle East and Europe.

The four mussel farms here produce some 2,800 tonnes of mussels a year.

More than 60 per cent is consumed locally, with the bulk bought by caterers and restaurants, said the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore.

Mr Lim, who lives on the kelong with his wife, father, two brothers and three workers, said mussel farming was a tough life.

He said: 'We can work 16 hours a day to meet orders.

I've lost over 10 kg since I came out here and I've seen my one-year-old daughter, who lives with my mother-in-law, only a total of 10 times.'

He quit his $3,000-a-month job and sold his large flat in Woodlands to buy a spartan kelong the size of a football field.

'I wanted a change in direction in life,' he explained.

Although his income is not fixed, he said he makes 'a few thousand dollars' profit' each month.

He added: 'If I wanted to make big bucks, I would quit this line.

'But I get a sense of satisfaction from waking up each morning and looking at what I've created on my own farm.

'I have to make it. It's my own business.'

Copyright © 2002 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.