Many people in Papua New Guinea (PNG) experience undernutrition and malnourishment due to a low protein diet. Staple foods, such as potatoes and rice, usually contain high glycemic carbohydrates. Stunting and wasting affects approximately 50% of children, and many adults are obese partly because of the high carbohydrate diet. Consequently, heart, vascular and metabolic diseases are more prevalent than in developed countries. Fish farming has been fostered by the PNG National Fisheries Authority (NFA) to increase access to protein and improve human health and livelihoods, mainly for rural communities where poverty is pervasive, and protein is either difficult to access or too expensive.
Over the last decade, the number of fish farms in PNG has increased from 7,000 to over 60,000 largely due to NFA’s well-planned interventions; these include research into improving fish feeds and feeding strategies, improving fingerling production, and farmer training. More than 95% of PNG fish farms are low intensity, earthen pond systems that are integrated into vegetable gardens. However, inland fish farming production levels in PNG remain low compared to those of nearby Asian countries. Until recently, fish farmers struggled to produce plate size fish, and the cost of feed was a disincentive to continue farming. The low farm production levels are attributed to the environmental constraints on fish growth, principally the colder waters of the highlands, the cost and availability of quality fish feeds, the scarcity of quality fish fingerlings, and a lack of efficient fish feeding strategies and husbandry knowledge for the predominantly remote, rural fish farmers. Many fish ponds become overcrowded due to in-pond breeding of tilapia thus increasing demand for natural food and pelleted feed. The mixed sex farming also results in the fish’s diversion of energy from growth to reproduction. Stunted adult fish are also sold or shared to new fish farmers as juvenile fish and this leads to crop failure and a loss of conviction for farming.
NFA, UNSW and ANSTO have worked collaboratively to address these challenges. Firstly, fingerling production has been boosted significantly by NFA by introducing monosex tilapia production practices and establishing satellite hatcheries that can provide access to fingerlings in remote areas for 18 provinces. These satellite hatcheries also act as knowledge sharing nodes. Secondly, using cutting edge technologies, UNSW, NFA and ANSTO have conducted research that has improved fish feeding practices to reduce the cost of fish farming and to better utilise local nutrient resources. Thirdly, through NFA and its partners, we have increased access to farming knowledge via training programs, the growth of a lead farmer network, and embedding advanced farmers on our research and farmer capacity building programs. Research and technical capacity building by UNSW and ANSTO has also strengthened NFA’s aquaculture research and development program in PNG. Our work has been funded by NFA, UNSW (philanthropic funding), ANSTO and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR). The research and outreach activities are discussed in detail in a series of interconnected presentations at this symposium.