New Zealand funds Palau’s clam project

KOROR: The New Zealand government has just approved US$14,967 (K44,000) in grants to Palau’s bureau of commercial development of the ministry of commerce and trade.
The money would be used to help the expansion of giant clam production in Palau.
Palau’s minister Oitochi Besebes said it was possible to make Palau the seafood capital in Micronesia if not in the Pacific.
“We don’t need to feed the fish but just let the clam seedlings grow around the reefs,” he said.
Director Alonso Joseph said the money would be used to purchase materials to construct fences in locations where five million seedlings of clams would be deployed around Palau.
The fence was to prevent predators from intruding into the sponging areas.
Joseph said anybody who were interested in clam farming could contact the MCT office for more information.
Airin Natake, the assistant development officer of the New Zealand high commission based in Kiribati informed Joseph that the money was already remitted to Palau. – PNS