The National Fisheries Authority (NFA) is assisting the remote Amanab LLG of Vanimo-Green with inland fish farming. The assistance to Pasi Fish Farm is aimed at alleviating poverty, providing food security and improving nutrition.
Working in partnership with the Project Development Benefits (PDB) of the Forest Management Authority (FMA) programme, Pasi Fish Farm started in 2019 in the remote regions of Vanimo-Green in West Sepik Province.
The project which was meant for remote Hoguru Village and was initiated by the PDB in 2017-18, but with a lack of road access to the remote village, the project was stalled and the materials were left in the Pasi area.
The initial funding for that project was K250, 000.
The materials did not reach the LLG until John Aulae, a local from Pasi, returned from Port Moresby with the desire to raise the standard of nutrition in his area. And so he continued this fish project in his area.
Aulae had worked on a similar project in Port Moresby some 10 years back with a Malaysian company. The project ceased due to a lack of funds, but the training that Aulae received, was what drove him to return home and implement a fish farm project.
“That initiative and this desire that I have brought me back here, with the intention to improve nutrition here, because in West Sepik there is the problem of food nutrition and malnutrition rate is very high.
“I thought that to achieve Vision 2050 of Poverty Alleviation, Food Security and Food Nutrition, I think fish is the way to go,” Aulae said.
He arrived in Pasi in 2019.
“I came here and I brought all the materials from Moresby.
“I brought them with me here because I have a heart for my people, and I wanted to help them.
Aulae said he arrived at the village and when the PDG gave his people K300, 000 he erected the house and the pond system.
He also used what was remaining from the Hoguru Village project, a balance of K60, 000, to set up the hatchery.
“So now the project here is complete. It’s got the nursery ponds, the breeding ponds and also the hatchery as well.
“Our production now for the hatchery is we’re looking at 7-8,000 fingerlings per month because of the number of brew stock we have. NFA has been very, very close to us. They have been assisting us in terms of technical support,” Aulae added.
He said when the NFA officer visits next, they will turn the fingerlings into male fish only.
“This way, they will be able to control the quality, meaning that we will give only the male fish to the farmer. The farmer will take care of it and it will come back because today inland fish farming has been spoiled in breeding,” he said.
Aulae said, “For example if ten fish are put inside, you will see that after two months there are 100 fish inside. Later only four or five out of the 100 fish will be of quality to be consumed. The rest do not develop properly.”
“That’s why the PDB project is done here to control the quality and it will be expanded to the other ILGs. There are 156 ILGs in the Vanimo-Green District, in 1,2,4 and Imonda Consolidated ILG areas,” said Aulae.
He stressed that each clan or ILG must own a farm so that it can address food security and at the same time bring in an income.