Milk Fish for Vitawa

Submitted by TemoL on Thu, 18/02/2010 - 8:34am

Minister for Primary Industries Joketani Cokanasiga said it was absolutely vital for us to sustain our natural resources so that they will continue to serve us and our future generations as sources of food and income.

Mr Cokanasiga made the comments during his recent visit to the milkfish farm at Vitawa in the province of Ra.

“This project is a fine example of how we can rear milkfish that are abundant in mangrove swamps along some of our coastal areas and use them as a source of food for our families or sell them as a source of money”, Mr Cokanasiga said.

“Rearing milkfish in captivity will also relieve some of the pressures that are put on our dwindling fish resources through overfishing or overexploitation”, he explained.

“Due to overfishing and the use of dynamite in fishing, the coastal fisheries resources are remarkably decreasing in the region with the added impact of the use of dynamite in indiscriminate killing of fish stock and damaging fishing grounds.

“People in the coastal areas of the Western Division mainly in the Northern Viti Levu rely heavily on sugar cane farming and fishing for their sustenance and income”, Mr Cokanasiga pointed out.

To address the depleting fish resource, the people of Vitawa through the Ministry of Primary Industries have formed a partnership with the Government of Japan to establish their Milk Fish Project.

Senior Research Officer Gerald Billings said the Vitawa Milkfish Farm was started with the aim to provide then with simple production techniques to utilise unexploited marine resources in non arable land in tidal flats.

“The project at Vitawa is a pilot milkfish farm which is expected to benefit villagers between Lautoka and Rakiraki has the most potential area for extension of such projects”, Mr Billings said.

“The project will not only transfer production techniques by environmental friendly and sustainable way, but also marketing management of the project’s products”.

Milkfish fry is found in the mangrove areas in the region where this edible fish is often caught.

“This project is the first community based milkfish farm Fiji that is jointly implemented by the Fisheries Department, Aquaculture International Limited (FAI) in association with NPO JECK Associates (a group of Ex-JICA experts in Kanagawa Prefecture)

“The project will contribute to the improvement of the livelihood of the villagers by securing fish as food, increasing incomes and promoting better food habits in the village”.

“It will also prevent coastal fisheries from being overexploited and empower the villagers to run their lives and raise their standard of living”.
Mr Cokanasiga told the villagers in Vitawa that through its road map, government intend to efficiently serve the rural dwellers to fully utilise their natural resources to lift their living standards.

“Most often the resources are over exploited, hence there is a need to establish projects that will help us to sustain our resources and maximise its returns”, said Mr Cokanasiga.

“This milkfish project is a living testimony of how we can reduce overexploitation of our resources by utilising idle land that has very little agricultural use.

“The developers are confident that there are readily available markets for milkfish so, I see no reason why we cannot support this project and take advantage of those markets”.

The coastal areas of Vitawa and Rabulu are well known spawning areas for milkfish and that is one of the primary reasons for the establishment of the project at this site. So far seven ponds have been constructed at a cost of $54,000.

The Commissioner Western, Joeli Cawaki, who visited the milkfish project at Vitawa village with Mr. Cokanasiga, said the project was a milestone for the people of Vitawa.

“It is important for the people of Vitawa to take good care of this project as it is a source of food and income for the villagers”.

“Establishing a project is easy, but sustaining it in a profitable way is the essence of running such a project in a business way."