Potential of milkfish farming development in Fiji

Milkfish has been a successful food industry in Asian countries like Philippines, Taiwan, and Indonesia. The Government of Fiji had wanted to develop a similar industry, and so enlisted the help of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. The South Pacific Aquaculture Development Project (Phase II) devised this survey to ascertain the extent of the milkfish stocks in Fiji waters, and further to investigate the possibility of milkfish farming in Fiji. Such farms have already b een established in Nauru, Kiribati and Tuvalu, and it was thought that milkfish farms would be not only a good source of protein for human diets and an alternative to depleting fish from the sea (and thus a way to ameliorate an environmental pressure), but also a source of income for villages and farmers as tuna bait as well. It is easier to collect milkfish fry from the wild than eggs, though the success of the collection still depends on natural availability, weather, season, and tides. Alth ough the peak fry season occurs at different times of the year in different places; in Fiji, it was generally between September and February. This survey spanned six months, but it is hoped that the survey will be continued by Fisheries staff, so that a full year's data could be collected. The purpose of the survey was first, to locate sites of potential fry collection; second, to perform trial collections; and third, to teach Fisheries staff how to find sites, catch, transport, and store the fry, and to farm them into a salable fish product, so they could pass these skills on to local farmers. Several sites were found in beach, river mouth and mangrove areas on Viti Levu at Nasese, Sigatoka and Deuba river mouths, and Tokotoko. On Vanua Levu, Nakalou Village, Lekuto, and Dreketi were potential sites for both fry and fingerling.