Minister, authority restock Enga rivers with trout

FISHERIES and Marine Resources Minister Dr Lino Tom, with the assistance from the National Fisheries Authority, restocked 100,000 trout fingerlings into the rivers of Enga yesterday.
The idea behind restocking of fish into the province’s river systems is to provide a source of protein for locals and improve food security in remote areas.
“We are doing a pilot project now by restocking the river systems of Enga with fish fingerlings and we will do the same for all the Highlands provinces,” Dr Tom said.
He said fish was a good source of protein and would complement local diets.
Dr Tom, who is also Wabag MP, said trout was selected because its ability to breed quickly and its adaptability.
The fingerlings were taken from the hatchery at the Kalopa trout farm and transported to Enga where they were distributed and introduced into the rivers.
There were three species of trout introduced into PNG during the pre-and post-colonial time.
The rainbow trout (oncorhynchus mykiss) and brown trout (salmo trutta) were introduced to the Highlands in the 1960s by the Australian colonial officers primarily for angling purposes.
Given that many of the high altitude rivers in PNG had low fish fauna with angling potential, the colonial administration introduced trout species to establish a population for the colonial angling fraternity.
Since the 1960s, there was no restocking of fish until yesterday where Dr Tom and the National Fisheries Authority officers led by managing director John Kasu restocked the rivers of Enga.