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Frontier’s Kodu copper project
enlivens ASX
Shares surge from
A$0.12 to a high of A$0.255 in past two weeks
By JASON SOM KAUT
PRICES of fresh fish are going up with consumers shying away from
fresh meat as a result of threats from mad cow and bird flu
diseases that are now affecting other countries.
Both the country, with an abundant supply of fish and rich marine
resources, and particularly Morobe, as a leader in the fishing
industry, stand to gain from the soaring fish prices.
Provincial programme adviser Wetti Zozingao revealed this during
the opening of a fish distribution centre in the Kotec LLG of
Finschhafen recently.
The Songpec fish distribution centre will supply super-tilapia
fingerlings to inland fishermen in the district and will also sell
to commercial producers.
The centre is expected to boost aquaculture in the province in a
big way, Mr Zozingao said.
He said while monitoring fish catch MFMA discovered that on a
commercial scale, fish resources were declining while demand for
fresh fish had increased.
He further said that aquaculture potential had remained unrealised
in PNG and this was putting pressure on marine resources with the
country being dependent on the sea for fresh catch.
Saying the MFMA had developed an aquaculture policy and had
received a promised K100,000 funding assistance from the Fisheries
Department, he encouraged the people to venture into fish farming
as a good source of income and protein.
“Mad cow disease has affected cattle around the world and bird-flu
is right at our doorsteps in West Papua and had affected poultry
supplies in the world market,” he said.
This, he said, had seen seafood prices going up with increasing
demand for fresh fish catch in fear of the two diseases.
The Department of Fisheries recently made available K1 million
through the National Development Bank for a fisheries credit
facility that enabled rural fishing groups in Morobe to acquire
pump boats in partnership with Government, resource owners and
private sector.
The programme has been successfully piloted in Morobe.
Because of this, the Fisheries Department said it would allocate a
further K10 million for lending to fish farmers nationwide.
 
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