In land fish Project for Kandep

as reported by Patrick Talu of The National

A PROPOSED pilot aqua culture project in Kandep, Enga province, is projected to generate K4.9 million in income, at the same time supplying the entire country with abundant fresh water fish stock for propagation.


The project, however, has remained insufficiently-funded and could not take off.

Last year, the National Fisheries Authority (NFA) provided a seed fund of K100,000 under its project development after seeing its potential as a livelihood project.

However, other government departments and donor agencies to whom the fish project proposals have been submitted are yet to chip in to enable the project to start.

Project manager Benny Tapol Kelly said Kandep was one such district that had more than 20 largest lakes and four biggest rivers that had the potential and capacity to stock and breed big volume of fresh water fish.

Kelly said four pontoons, or 80 cages, will accommodate well over 240,000 fish at a time.

“The fish will be harvested twice a year and therefore, a total of 480,000 fish will be produced in one year.

Kelly told The National yesterday: “The fresh fish would be of high quality and with reasonable price tag.

“The fully-grown plate-size fish will be sold at local market.

“We have already identified markets such as the Porgera mine, Oil Search Ltd, current LNG project and other large businesses mainly in the Highlands,” Kelly said.