Fish Farm Update

During yesterday's tour of protected springs we ran into a few fish farmers that were sponsored by myself, my Rotary Club and Marine Harvest Canada (MHC) in 2009- they donated a salmon farm tour out of Campbell River that over 50 Rotarians agreed to pay $30 per head to enjoy. The $1500 raised went to nets, feed, fingerlings, PVC pipe and fertilizer to start 15 family fish farms for households headed by widows who were raising grandchildren because their parents had died from AIDs.

The first two pics show a 10mx16m pond that is doing very well. The owner just restocked with 500 fingerlings from our widows ponds nearby. Unfortunately he is out of feed as he has been sick. The third picture above shows one of the widows ponds that is not being managed well. The owner keeps giving her fish away too small and does not have the funds to keep herself going. The last little pond was started by a boy who wants to be a fish farmer. Another lady was sick for almost a year. We met her in 2009. She was not able to sell any fish because she needed to consume them for her own family. Right now I am focussed on clean water, but more fish farm updates will come.

This morning I am off to the local Minister of Fisheries office. I see from the sign that they have a "Fish Farming Productivity Branch". KASFOOC has told me who to talk to. I told them how government stifles fish farming back home, but they say this branch has not done any harm yet. I want to learn from the local government but was worried about alerting them to our little group for fear of unleashing beaurocratic smothering. We'll see if Masava, the contact I was given, is in today.

On Thursday one of our KASFOOC widows that MHC sponsored is harvesting, so I will post pictures and maybe even video from that. I have a Rotary grant to help the fish farmers, but I am just info gathering for now. I have a plan, but do not want to divulge it (my Kenyan friends are also reading this blog on their cell phones) until I have seen the complete supply chain from hatchery to feed mill to market. Its no secret that THIS fish farming component is the highlight for me. I understand that clean drinking water is the priority but for me its getting these farms productive that is the most exciting and I think will yield the biggest boost out of poverty and have a huge ripple effect through generations. I am starting small(tiny), but dreaming big.