May 24, 2011

Papua New Guinea's aquaculture to be boosted by fish feed

Fish farmers in Papua New Guinea, in particular those who specialise in trout and tilapia farming, will be able to enhance output as fish feed will be available soon.

The National Fisheries Authority (NFA) in collaboration with Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), and the Department of Agriculture and Livestock had researched and formulated a feed using local ingredients.

Trials of this feed under farming conditions in the past five years had resulted in the semi-commercial production of fish feed. In the past, feed, especially for trout, was imported from overseas until recently. With the increased number of fish farming activities happening around the country, the demand for a proper fish feed had increased.

NFA and its partners have been working to address the demand through the establishment of mini-feed mills and research and development to find a locally available, affordable and nutritious fish feed. NFA displayed the innovative products during the National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) show earlier this month in Lae to promote fisheries and marine resources activities. During the show, NFA displayed several 25kg bags of fish feed which was eye-catching for the fish farmers. The farmers were so keen to learn the techniques, the ingredients, equipment the processes involved.

NFA's aquaculture and inland fisheries division headed by pioneer aquaculturist, Jacob Wani, is responsible for fresh water aquaculture and inland fish farming and also takes the lead in this development. Currently, the number of fish farming activities for both fresh water and marine areas has increased overwhelmingly as a result of NFA's support to the fish farmers through the project development fund.