Written Reply to Parliamentary Question on the Launch of the Aquatic Animal Health Services by Ms Grace Fu, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment

Written Reply to Parliamentary Question on the Launch of the Aquatic Animal Health Services by Ms Grace Fu, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment

Ms Nadia Ahmad Samdin: To ask the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment (a) whether she can provide an update on the launch of the Aquatic Animal Health Services (AAHS) in 2023; and (b) how will the Ministry monitor and evaluate AAHS’ impact on the survival, growth rate, and overall health of aquatic animals in participating farms.

Answer:

1 The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) has successfully completed the tender exercise to engage an external vendor to administer the Aquatic Animal Health Services (AAHS) and will launch the service in 3Q2023. Through aggregating services such as veterinary consultations and diagnostic analyses for animal health screening, SFA, through the AAHS, will help local farms to strengthen their biosecurity management, prevent disease outbreaks, and adopt sustainable farming and management practices. SFA will assess the impact of the AAHS through key indicators, such as the frequency of disease outbreaks of common pathogens, and fish mortality due to diseases in the farms.