Made a visit with dad to St John’s Island to see the TMSI and AVA Aquaculture Centre. We were part of the guise of CI and tagged along with a group of visiting students from Thailand. We were hosted by people from RBMR. The island is only a 20 min ride away from the Pasir Panjang Jetty (the jetty actually serves the southern islands for the workers).

The two centres are relatively new, as compared to the lepar housing areas. Facilities are good and well managed. TMSI should actually do up a proper visitor centre/room instead of the corridor of displays. The coral holding tanks were fun as it allowed us to touch the corals and other invertebrates. Spotted the signage for the RSN work on the island and —classified—

AVA had a nice briefing room and an introductory video. The most interesting sight was the algae farm where cylindrical vats of green algae were being grown. It kinda looked like a green tea factory. The seabass grown were huge and they had other types of fish like this shark which is beginning to gain popularity in human eating and recreation.

The trip was interesting with a nice guide and talked to some of the thai delegates who were all doing PhD and masters. So there was something common to chat about on the ride back.