Fisheries minister announces projects and updates on recent official travel
Fisheries minister announces
projects and updates on recent official travel
Minister for Nauru Fisheries and
Marine Resources Authority (NFMRA) Reagan Aliklik announced two
main coastal fisheries projects at the April parliament
sitting.
The Resilient Coastal Fisheries and
Aquaculture in Nauru project aims to strengthen policy and planning
strategies with increased technical ability of civil servants and
communities.
The project is poised to enable an
integrated approach to climate change and development challenges,
improve food security and nutrition through increased farmed fish
supply, increase the resilience of ecosystems, and the adaptive
capacity and income of aquaculture operators through availability
of data and knowledge sharing mechanisms for adaptive planning and
environmental protection.
The project is funded by the
Adaptation Fund valued at over AU$8 million over five years.
The second project, MiCoast, is a
sub-regional project funded by the Agency of France for
Development, through the Kiwa Initiative valued at over Au$500,000
over three years.
It aims to establish nature-based
solutions on community based fisheries management, understanding
and awareness as well sharing and promotion.
In March Minister Aliklik travelled
to Australia to join the Nauru fisheries oceanic team in a meeting
with the Eastern Marine Nauru Ltd.
The minister said while the
deliberations were interesting to observe, the outcome was a
pleasant surprise.
"Despite the hardships endured
within the tuna industry in the past year generally, the team
managed to secure an agreement for the next five years with an
increase of five per cent from the current arrangement that amounts
to over USD14 million as a minimum for each year," Minister Aliklik
said.
The Eastern Marine Nauru Ltd., is a
Nauru registered company with 11 fishing vessels under the Nauru
flag.
Minister Aliklik was later
accompanied by Deputy Minister Maverick Eoe on invitation to
Thailand where meetings and visits to the Chiang Mai University
were positive and encouraging Nauruans to study at.
At their courtesy visit to the
Office of the Prime Minister the Thai representatives expressed
their willingness to assist with capacity building at their
training institutions and develop further fisheries cooperation and
understanding to ensure compliance with fishing activities.
Meanwhile, in aquaculture, the
Nauru Fisheries and Marine Resources Authority (NFMRA) continues to
assist pond owners prepare their ponds to receive consignments of
milkfish fry from Tarawa.
The aquaculture section is also looking to expand its facility to
accommodation a hatchery and new mariculture activities.
The coastal team will redeploy fish
aggregating devices (FAD) lost during bad weather while continuing
to improve data collection of both pelagic and reef fish, and
increase the biological sampling coverage of Nauru's food fishes to
identify the different species available for consumption.
Minister Aliklik says the coastal
team endeavours to assist communities in developing their capacity
to manage and monitor their adjacent coastal marine
environment.
Community consultations continue
with mapping, demarcation and verification of potential marine
managed areas or protected areas. Aerial drones are also assisting
in the exercise.
ENDS///