A Trip to JFP

6, December 2008 in Uncategorized
Tags: brokers, fish, fish brokers, fishery port, fresh fish, fresh seafood, jurong fishery port, market, prawns, seafood, senoko fishery port, shark, sharks, singapore, sting ray, stingray

It was just days before that I was wondering if the Jurong Fishery Port was open to public. I remember hearing rumours about them controlling access because of security issues. In any case, just to be sure, emailed the good guys at AVA and they came back promptly saying all you need to do is change passes. And so, at 2ish in the morning, we set off for Jurong Fishery Port, nestled away in godforsaken western Singapore.

Where all the fishy business is carried out

The first thing we stepped out of the car, we were assured that we were at the right place. Believe me the dense air of fish odour was… intense.

Then it started to look rather interesting.

Lots of fish lying around and being hauled back and forth on trolleys and pails

We were looking for live fishes, but all we could see were dead, frozen fishes. I think it’s cause they are not stored in proper tanks on the trawlers and are immediately stored in heaps of ice once they get hauled up by the nets. Imagine this is 3am, and your fishes that you buy the market, 10am, some 7 hours later then consume it only even many more hours later. So much for fresh fish huh?

Lots of fish, think these are the ones we have with nasi lemak?

And I was really curious to know who and what fish brokers really were. Because on the web, there were hundreds of them listed. And these brokers sit on their high chairs, with a little stand in front of them, looking very much like towkays (or bosses).

Fish Broker looking all towkay

I really think they are dang rich. There are lotsa moderately expensive cars in the carpark at the JFP. Maybe it’s not too bad an idea aspiring to be a fysh monger.

It’s really a place with a lot of fish

The place is really quite cool feeling. There’s ice everywhere it almost feels like your feet are walking in a refrigerator. And it’s like walking in the freezer compartment because you look left, look right, look front and all you see is…

Heap of stingrays, never thought i’d use such a phrase

a lot more fish!

And the prized catch of the day…

Baby shark amidst many fish

A baby shark! Does anyone know how is the shark used in cooking? It certainly isn’t the sort for shark’s fin right? Really looks quite nice to be sold as food. Gah. And just for the record, I probably haven’t had sharks fin since 2001. That’s a good 7ish, 8 years. Never thought I could last that long, especially when it’s really quite delicious.

So if you’ve been thinking about quitting sharks’ fin soup and all things sharks’ fin, don’t think just do.

Some tips you might want to follow if you decide to go visit JFP:

1) Wear shorts/berms if you don’t want your jeans soaking up the fish juice

2) Wear something you are going to wash immediately after the visit to JFP because somehow the smell just sticks onto your clothes

3) Wear footwear that’s easy to wash/rinse after. Believe me, you really would want to wash your shoes after.

4) Bring newspaper or cardboard or a plastic sheet/mat to place on your car mats if you don’t want soggy shoes to stink up your car afterward

5) The place is still dark, despite being rather well lit. So if you’re there to take photos, bring a camera that can either shoot clean in high ISO, or bring the fastest lens you have. I shot with a 18-55mm kit lens at F5.0 onwards and at ISO 800 (i think) and was struggling with average 1/10 shutters.

And finally, here’s the address and link:

Jurong Fishery Port
Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority
35 Fishery Port Road
Singapore 619742

Click here to see a write-up.