Gen Z anglers form society to document Singapore's fish

Four anglers in their 20s have started a fish interest group in Singapore to record the types of fish living along the country's coastlines. They founded the Ichthyological Society of Singapore on July 6 after learning that reclamation work near East Coast Park could begin as soon as late 2026. Ichthyology is the scientific study of fish. The group wants to make sure that fish species and their homes are properly recognised before construction changes the coastline forever.

Student Lin Jiayuan, 24, started the society with three friends — Andriel Cheong, 24, Aidan Raphael Keh, 20, and Brian Sng, 22. Lin studies bioengineering at Nanyang Technological University, while the others attend Singapore Management University. The group has quickly grown to more than 80 members. All four co-founders share a passion for fishing and protecting marine life.

The group was partly sparked by Singapore's Long Island reclamation plan. This project will create about 800 hectares of new land along the East Coast. After reading the environmental study for this project, the founders noticed that many fish species they had seen at Bedok Jetty were not mentioned in the report. On the public database iNaturalist, the area around the jetty has already recorded 200 species.

The society documents fish by writing down every species its members catch. Most fish are released back into the water, but a small number are preserved to give scientists useful data about fish behaviour and habitats. Together, the four co-founders say they have caught and recorded about 500 of Singapore's more than 700 known marine and freshwater fish species. Their records cover waters around the mainland and its offshore islands.

"We acknowledge that reclamation may be necessary, but if we're going to change our coastline, we want the habitats and species that are actually there to be properly recognised," said Lin. He has authored more than 25 biodiversity records published by the National University of Singapore's Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum. He has also worked with local fish organisations like Pasarfish. Even though he is not a professional fish scientist, his contributions to fish research have been widely recognised.

The co-founders first bonded over a hobby called "species hunting." In this hobby, anglers try to find as many different types of fish as possible, rather than trying to catch the biggest one. Lin and Cheong have fished together since secondary school and later connected with Keh and Sng through Instagram. Singapore's small species-hunting community uses social media to help each other identify rare and unusual catches.

Through years of fishing at East Coast Park and studying scientific literature, the group discovered that the silty seabed holds a surprising variety of microhabitats. These include muddy patches where gobies live and rocky crevices hiding eels. The founders believe that recent environmental studies often miss these small but important habitats. They also say that surveys should use a wider range of methods — like fish traps and hook-and-line fishing — to get a fuller picture of marine life in an area.

Cheong, who studies sociology and political science, said young people have a special reason to care about these issues. "We are the generation that will be the most impacted by the Long Island plan in the future," he said. The society has already submitted public feedback on the environmental study for the reclamation project, which is open for comments until July 28. The group hopes its work will help bridge the gap between professional researchers and everyday citizen scientists.

Member Brian Sng has developed a mobile app called SGFish to make fish recording easier. The app uses a computer vision model — a type of artificial intelligence — to identify fish species found in Singapore's waters. A related Telegram bot, built with his university friends, has already collected about 1,600 observations covering around 400 species. The app is currently being tested and will allow marine life fans, including divers and recreational anglers, to easily log their sightings.

The society's logo is a fish called Dussumier's thryssa, a type of anchovy with a distinctive moustache-like marking, designed by Keh. Lin explained that the anchovy was chosen carefully. "The final design represents both the scientific diversity of Singapore's waters and the cultural significance of anchovies in local cuisine," he said. The anchovy family also has many species that have not yet been discovered — much like the hidden marine life still waiting to be found in Singapore's waters.