The National Fisheries Authority (NFA) delegation are in the Philippines visiting the General Santos City to share and acquire fisheries knowledge and experiences.
General Santos City fondly known as the Tuna capital of the Philippines, thousands of tuna are caught there on a daily basis. Aside from fresh tuna, General Santos is the largest producer of corn, coconuts, pineapples, asparagus, exotic fruits, and even rice.
The visit to this particular region gave the NFA delegation direct information and ideas on the best implementation plan for the Fisheries Strategic Plan 2021-2030 to achieve its goals.
General Santos boasts the modern fish port in Philippines and greatly supports the country’s revenue.
The incorporation between the Government and key stakeholders were the driving force behind the successful growth of fisheries in General Santos, and this is an experience NFA delegations will need to consider when they return.
NFA Board Chairman, Ango Wangatau said, "Seeing is believing and we needed to come and see the sizeable scale and strength of this Fisheries industry in Philippines. From here we want to incorporate the existing knowledge and experience of our Philippine counterparts to model and expand our own infrastructure in PNG.”
NFA, through its 10-year Fisheries Strategic Plan aims to transform PNG to be the "Tuna" capital of the Pacific, hence the visit is relevant in gaining more experience from a country that has already been transformed into a Tuna capital.
The visit proceeded to the landing, grading and weighing and processing of Tuna, the fishing boats docking yard and the opportunity to also see the biggest prawns and fish farm.
The experience gained from these visits will contribute immensely towards PNG Fisheries preparation towards the setting up of a downstream processing of all tuna caught in PNG and creating job opportunities.
Mr Wangatau said having seen how the fisheries operations are done in General Santos, believes the same came be achieved in PNG.