Fisheries vital to PNG: Davis

National

A combined project by the National Fisheries Authority and Australian researchers on shark and rays in Papua New Guinea provides a strong connection between the two countries, an official says.
Australian High Commissioner Bruce Davis said when launching a shark and ray exhibition in Port Moresby last week that fisheries important to island nations like PNG and such projects would help them understand the nature of the resources.
“We work in a collaborative way to understand the nature of the resources and nature of the fish stocks,” he said.
“When we’re talking about fisheries contributing for more percentage of GDP in PNG, it’s a very significant resource.”
Davis said it was great to see a number of researches and projects being carried out around PNG waters that were associated to natural resources.
“The exhibition itself is just the final stage of some very good strong collaborative efforts between fisheries agency and our own Australian Regional Centre for Agriculture and Research and our own scientific organisation,” he said.
During the exhibition, X-rays of different species of rays and sharks found in PNG were displayed and explained to students of Marianville Secondary and St Joseph Catholic College.