A delegation from the National Fisheries Authority (NFA) lead by the Board Chairman, Mr Ango Wangatau is visiting General Santos in Philippines to share and acquire fisheries knowledge and experiences in this particular region.
General Santos is famously known as the “Tuna” city capital of Philippines and by visiting this region, it gives the delegates first-hand information and better ideas to best implement the Fisheries Strategic Plan 2021-2030 to achieve its goals.
It boasts the modern fish port in Philippines and greatly supports the country’s revenue.
The incorporation between the Government and Key Stakeholders were the driving force behind the successful growth of fisheries in General Santos, which was something that the NFA delegations experienced and would consider more when returning home.
“Seeing is believing and we needed to come and see the sizeable scale and strength of this Fisheries industry in Philippines.”
“From here we want to incorporate the existing knowledge and experience of our Philippine counterparts to model and expand our own infrastructure in PNG,” said the Chairman.
The aim of the Fisheries Strategic Plan is to transform Papua New Guinea to be the “Tuna” capital of the Pacific. Therefore, visitation such as this is relevant to gain more experience from a country that has already been transformed into a Tuna capital.
The delegates visited landing, grading and weighing and processing of Tuna, the fishing boats docking yard and had the opportunity to also see the biggest prawns and fish farm.
These first-hand experiences gained from this visit will contribute towards PNG Fisheries preparation towards setting up of a downstream processing of all tuna caught in PNG and more job creation for the people.
“We are here and have seen what is done with Fisheries in General Santos.
“If it can be done here, we can also do it in PNG,” said Wang