NFA Officers Trained to Instruct Fish Farmers on Use of Application

Fifteen Officers from the National Fisheries Authority (NFA) have been trained to instruct local fish farmers and fisherfolk on the use of an agro-meteorological application that is capable of providing early warnings about climate changes.

Speaking at a recent JIS ‘Think Tank’, Senior Aquaculture Extension Officer in the Aquaculture Division of the NFA, Leanne Morris Bennett, said the training was twofold.

“We were able to learn how to become facilitators, allowing the persons that we are going to train to be able to have concrete experiences and allowing them to be able to teach us while we understand from them, through the use of local knowledge, how it is that their behaviours are determined,” she said.

Among the principles taught was how to interpret meteorological data provided by the application to different teaching approaches.

Mrs. Morris Bennett said the application is multifaceted. “If we know that we are getting a hurricane, you will see small craft warnings in effect. Fishers would be advised for them not to go out, based on the intensity of the wind speeds and wave heights.

We know that we may be getting rain, so fish farmers may have to lower their outlet pipes, to prevent their ponds from flooding,” she added.

“We will also know if there will be drought conditions for this month or maybe for the next three months. Farmers, for instance, will be able to either stock their ponds less or know they may have excessive evaporation and may need to put plans in place to mitigate, if it happens,” she said.

The participants were presented with their certificates of completion and other special awards.

The five-day workshop was funded by the World Bank under the Promoting Community-Based Climate Resilience in the Fisheries Sector Project and lasted from November 14 to November 18.