Largest single harvest of Freshwater Prawns in Fijian history.
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 | USP graduate and Prawn Farm trainee manager Chinthaka Hewavitarane (left) with farm labourers transferring harvested prawns into ice. |
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A joint collaboration between the University of the South Pacific (USP) and Dairy Farms Fiji Ltd has resulted in the first major prawn harvest of commercial quantity from the DFF Aquaculture (DFFA) freshwater prawn farm at Navua, Fiji recently. The yield of prawns exceeded any previous single harvest of freshwater prawns in Fiji. Fiji’s Minister of Public Enterprises Hon. Mr Jonetani Galuinadi, and Public Enterprises Chief Executive Officer Mr Parmesh Chand, visited the farm during the harvest and witnessed the success of the project. Dairy Farms Fiji Ltd. and the Institute of Marine Resources (IMR), joined forces to use the technical expertise of USP, and the resources and property of DFF (leased from Fiji Ministry of Public Enterprises) to commercially produce high quality freshwater Prawns. Currently DFFA has 16 ponds in production, with long term potential to develop over 100 ponds. Three ponds were harvested to provide this first batch of prawns in commercial quantity from the recently-revitalised farm facility (formerly known as VitiCorp). A total of 38 local people from Navua were employed for the prawn harvest. The expected production target from three ponds was 1080kg of prawns, this target was exceeded. A total of 1400kg had been delivered to the Fresh’et processing facility in Walu Bay, Suva, with a retail value of approximately $FJD35, 000. These will be sold in the Fiji local market. The successful harvest proved the venture’s ability to commercially produce large quantities of freshwater prawns. Phase One of the collaboration between DFF and USP will be completed in June, and currently it is producing 11% more prawns than the most optimistic target. In line with the policies of DFF, the future will see USP using DFFA as a Research and Training Facility to further enhance the freshwater aquaculture industry in Fiji, while DFF benefits from the commercial success of the venture. New R&D projects in the pipeline include research on aquaculture of freshwater eels in the Navua area.
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