Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority has given green signal to 11 fish farms, which were affected by the oil spill off Johor, for resuming fish sale on 20 January, after evaluation of food safety was completed.
However, according to the Channel News Asia, fishermen have been asked to refrain from selling molluscs and crustaceans like lobsters and crabs. This is because safety evaluation for these two species is still ongoing, authorities explained.
Also read: Johor oil spill: Fish farms planning to sue shipping companies responsible for disaster
Fish farms have incurred huge losses and were in talks with their lawyers to sue the shipping companies who were responsible for the oil spill. A total of 12 farms were affected by the oil spill on 3 January which was caused by a collision between two container vessels off Johor. Though AVA immediately issued oil-absorbent pads and canvases to affected farms, fishermen said they lost almost the entire Chinese New Year harvest. However, recently the authorities said that "Most of the farms in the East Johor Strait have completed clean-up and put up mitigation measures like canvas skirting to prevent re-entry of residual oil."
AVA also said that it will continue to monitor the situation and conduct sampling at the farms, according to the news website.
