NFA urged to provide incentives

 NATIONAL Fisheries Authority has been urged to provide incentives and improve fish markets to support local fishermen in maritime provinces.

Local fisherman George Maiet, from Mushu Island in Wewak district, East Sepik, said NFA was spending millions of kina on fishing projects but there was no market readily available for fishermen to sell their fish. 

He said a new jetty and market in Wewak were recently completed by the Japanese and PNG governments but the East Sepik Fisheries Corporative could not utilise the facilities to buy fish from local fishermen.

Maiet recently toured Milne Bay with University of PNG Prof Raphael Mana and said the problem faced by fishermen in East Sepik and Milne Bay was the same in all coastal and island provinces.

He added that the NFA should consider lifting the ban on the harvesting of beche-de-mer as it earned good money for fishermen.

“Stocks of beche-de-mer have increased in the past three years we observed the ban and we should now be allowed to go back and make some money to sustain our livelihood,” he said.

“This was evident in our recent tour of Milne Bay and Mana is working on a report to be submitted to the NFA for the opening of beche-de-mer harvesting.”