Family fish farm praised

By GABRIEL FITO
THE Managiah family fish farm project at the Sowom Ex-service block on the West Coast of Wewak has been praised for being the best and biggest fish farming project in East Sepik and West Sepik.
The project, with more than 20 ponds, was inspected by East Sepik provincial fisheries adviser Willie Sangi, technical officer Paul Jinumbo and provincial fisheries chairman James Haurom last week.
“I have inspected all the ponds throughout the two Sepik provinces and none of them would match the project at Sowom,” Sangi said.
“You have done exceptionally well with spades and shovels to beat other farmers, most of whom have only between three and four ponds, and I am proud of your achievement.”
The family project is headed by Rex Managiah, who started the project in 1991 and later urged relatives to join.
“There is a great demand for freshwater fish here as I observed when making my harvest,” Managiah said.
“Fish were selling like hotcakes at K3.50 per kg from the 11 harvests I made.
“Because my relatives have teamed up, I have set my target for the family to achieve 100 fish ponds in the near future.
“The National Fisheries Authority gave us K15,000 for the project last year which I have used to improve the ponds, but we would require further assistance to expand to meet our target.”
Managiah added the extension of the project would also include prawn and eel farming, besides the current stock of fish, mainly super tilapia.