After last year's success with sea bass, Singapore is set to harvest farmed cobia from Singapore waters, according to a Straits Times report. 

The cobia is one of the six species of fish identified as suitable for local farming by the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA).

About eight tonnes of cobia are ready for harvest, meaning Singapore can now reduce imports, a key objective of the programme to farm fish locally. Singapore imported 40 tonnes of cobia from Vietnam and Taiwan last year.

Singapore consumes about 89,000 tonnes of fresh fish annually, with the bunk of it supplied by Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. AVA hopes that local fish farms will contribute more fish to the domestic market and the agency is now looking to introduce new species into local fish farms, with the crimson red snapper next on the list.

The first batch of locally reared cobia will be harvested from the Changi Fishery. The fishery's general manager Rosemary Lau said the price of her farmed fish would cost S$45 per kilogramme, the same as imported chilled cobia, but would sell it to restaurants at an initial half-price for promotion.

Wee Joo Yong, head of research at the AVA's Marine Aquaculture Centre, said the demand is from a niche market but expects the popularity of cobia to reach the mass market upon increased availability.