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If you’re looking for an outdoor activity that’s also educational, you might want to check out this tour of a local shrimp farm.

Blue Aqua, which specializes in shrimp aquaculture technology, has a breeding center located at 21 Neo Tiew Lane 1, near the northwestern tip of Singapore.

Recently, the company launched a shrimp tour and tasting under its food retail brand, nature’s hug.

Through this, Blue Aqua hopes to raise awareness of the importance of local food production and share knowledge about urban shrimp farming.

Breeding three types of shrimp

Guests are given a guided tour of the “super-intensive” shrimp farm and hatchery.

The tour begins at the broodstock center, where the mother shrimp are used for breeding.

Blue Aqua currently focuses on farming three types of prawns – white prawns, giant tiger prawns and kuruma prawns (also known as Japanese tiger prawns).

The latter, for which Blue Aqua will begin retailing in 2023, is the most expensive shrimp on the market, with a kilogram costing S$200.

Blue Aqua, however, plans to expand its offering by soon selling blue shrimp and banana shrimp, two species not commonly found in Asia.

According to a press release, Blue Aqua is capable of producing 10 kg of shrimp per square meter of farm space, which is 10 times the industry standard. It can produce 100 million shrimp larvae per year.

Resource-efficient system

Customers can also take a look at the tanks where food is made for the shrimp larvae and the large tanks where the shrimp are sorted into their different life stages.

There will also be hands-on harvesting and feeding opportunities.

Here is an adult shrimp for inspection.

According to Blue Aqua, the farm uses a “patented farming system” to manage water quality at optimal levels “to be resource efficient”.

Additionally, it claims to operate on a zero-waste system through the use of phytoplankton, a type of microscopic algae, to suck up the organic waste produced by the shrimp.

Shrimp are also grown and raised “naturally” without the use of antibiotics, chemicals and other additives.

To ensure customers get the freshest shrimp, shellfish are harvested daily and then delivered to supermarkets like FairPrice and Cold Storage under the nature’s hug brand.

Given the company’s more sustainable shrimp farming methods, their shrimp products are also more expensive than the market price.

With the farm tours, Blue Aqua hopes to educate consumers about the inner workings of the farm and the price difference compared to other seafood brands.

Shrimps and wine

The tour concludes with a three-course shrimp tasting featuring shrimp salad, charcoal-grilled shrimp, and shrimp tacos, accompanied by sweet sparkling white wine from Italy.

The food is prepared by an on-site chef, so everything is served piping hot.

The tacos were quite delicious.

As someone who isn’t usually a fan of the fishy smell of seafood, I was pleasantly surprised by the freshness of the charcoal grilled shrimp.

Those intrigued by Blue Aqua’s shrimp can purchase a pack to take home after the tour.

The visit to the Blue Aqua Shrimp Farm costs S$55 for adults and S$45 for children.

Currently, the only time slots available for the visit are July 3 and 16, 4 p.m.

Spend at least S$60 on shrimp on the nature’s cuddly site, and enjoy a 20% reduction on the price of the visit to the farm. This promotion ends June 30.

Book your tickets here.

Top photo by Ashley Tan