One hundred thousand fish fingerlings (trout) were released across rivers of Enga province as part of a restocking exercise.
“We are doing a pilot project now by restocking the river system of Enga with fish fingerlings and we will do the same for all the Highlands Provinces.”
“I want people to have balance in their protein and fish is good for our health so as a Minister in charge of Fisheries, I will do my best to introduce more fish into our river system, said Fisheries and Marine Resources Minister Dr. Lino Tom.
The restocking was mainly trout as it breeds well in cold and on higher altitude where no other fisher species can survive.
The fingerlings were taken from the hatchery at the Kalopa Trout Farm and transported to Enga for distribution.
Three species of trout were introduced into PNG during the pre-and post-colonial time. The Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and Brown Trout (Salmo trutta) were introduced to the Highlands in the 1960s by the Australian colony for angling purposes.
Given that many of the high-altitude rivers in PNG had very low fish fauna with angling potentials, the colony introduced the trout species as a prospective species to establish its population for the colonial angling fraternities advantage.
Since the 1960s there was no restocking of fish until today where the Minister and the NFA Officers lead by the Managing Director, John Kasu restocked the rivers of Enga with trout.
The rivers that restocking took place were at Maramuni, Yokonda, Pilikambi, Tsak Valley, and in Kandep.
