$7.3M For PNG Aquaculture Programme

The programme will give social, subsistence and export earnings and business opportunities worth more than K10 million (US$3.66 million) a year over the next decade, according to Pacific Magazine.

The cash injection follows the signing of the Daru Hatchery Civil Construction project in Port Moresby by Professor Ross Garnaut, chairman of the board of PNGSDP and David Sode, chief executive officer.

The contract is to be carried out by Curtain Brothers (PNG) Ltd.

The project is part of the company’s ongoing community development task after the world’s mining giant BHP Billiton left extensive environmental damage to the province during its mining years in the 1980s, according to Pacific Magazine. BHP left a substantial amount of money as compensation package for the local people, which is now been administered by PNSDP in PNG.

Western Province Sustainable Aquaculture (WPSA) is a programme approved by the PNGSDP Board to construct and operate a commercial barramundi (fish) hatchery capable of producing 400,000 fingerlings a year. These fingerlings will help the programme's Social Development components, including a restocking project to rejuvenate the Fly River barramundi stocks and a cage culture project empowering the rural communities in the Middle and South Fly to farm barramundi.

This is the first sustainable fisheries project to be delivered in Western Province and incorporates public, private and community partnerships with a strong regional development focus.