BY RODRICK DESURI

AUKI

A one-day fish bottling and personal hygiene training was successfully conducted last week at Waimarau and Harumou in Mareho Ward 24, West Are’are, Malaita Province.

The training aims to equip rural fishers, especially women entrepreneurs, with skills to properly handle fish and teach them hygiene standards to support roadside markets and income generation in the communities.

Facilitator and senior fisheries officer in Auki, Mathew Isihanua, said the program was carried out as part of his own initiative to continue a small-scale fisheries project previously supported under the USAID SCALE program in Malaita.

“Since the termination of the USAID program, funding support for such training also ended. Therefore, I decided to continue with the initiative to ensure it benefits the four fisheries setups in Mareho Ward. This training covered two of them,” Isihanua said.

A total of 60 participants attended — 30 from each community. Isihanua said participants gained new skills in fish quality assessment and bottling.

“They learned a lot during the full-day training, especially in fish bottling. However, they also raised the need for financial assistance to purchase pressure pots for processing,” he added.

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