Lae’s fish market now doing good business

By EREBIRI ZURENUOC
THE fish market located inside Lae Main Market is up and running for customers who wish to buy fresh fish from the waters of Morobe, says acting provincial programme adviser for Morobe Fisheries Management Authority (MFMA) John Joseph.
He told The National on Friday that six active fishing cooperatives were already supplying fish to the market.
“It is not only our coastal fisherman who are involved, but our inland fish farmers as well,” Joseph said.
“Almost a tonne has been sold since Jan 18 when we started preparing the place.
“All the groups that came in so far, have given 250kg of fish each, worth more than K3000 for them.
“The fish market sells according to weight, which is K17 for a kg.
“Most people need to be supported financially in some ways, so this is one way in which we can help our local fishermen and fish farmers.”
The facility was built by NFA and handed over to the Morobe provincial government on Oct 10, 2017.
The fish market is equipped with an ice maker, a blast freezer and a storage refrigerator donated by the Overseas Fisheries Cooperation Foundation (OFCF) of Japan.
It has a fresh fish and a cooked fish selling area.
Joseph said the facility was given to a cooperative group to manage in Jan 2018, however, due to in-house issues it was not used after June 2018.
“From July to December 2018, it was sitting idle,” he said.
“Since Jan this year, the MFMA decided to run the facility.