June 12, 2008

Papua New Guinea to spend US$7.3 million to develop aquaculture

Papua New Guinea's Western Province is using part of the compensation awarded by mining entity BHP to develop sustainable aquaculture in the country.

World mining giant BHP Billiton left extensive environmental damage to the province during its mining years in the 1980s, according to Pacific Magazine.

BHP left a substantial amount of money as compensation for the local people, which is now been administered by The Papua New Guinea Sustainable Development Programme (PNGSDP).

The  PNGSDP Company Board recently announced it would spend PGK20 million (US$7.33 million) to develop Papua New Guinea's Western Province Sustainable Aquaculture programme (WPSA).

The programme will give social, subsistence and export earnings and business opportunities worth more than K10 million (US$3.66 million) a year over the next decade, according to Pacific Magazine.

The contract is to be carried out by Curtain Brothers (PNG) Ltd.

The programme would involve the construction and operation of a commercial barramundi (fish) hatchery capable of producing 400,000 fingerlings a year. These fingerlings will help the programme's Social Development components, including a restocking project to rejuvenate the Fly River barramundi stocks and a cage culture project enabling rural communities to farm barramundi.

This is the first sustainable fisheries project to be delivered in Western Province.