Fifteen ocean artisans, seafood entrepreneurs, seaweed, and aquaculture farmers have become the first graduates of a two weeks training program targetted at helping people establish and operate a small seafood business.
They graduated at the USP TAFE Campus in Walu Bay today with a micro-qualification in Establishing and Operating a Small Seafood Business through the USP Pacific-European Union Marine Partnership Project.
There are 10 graduates from Fiji and one from the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Micronesia, and two from Kiribati.
USP Vice-Chancellor Pal Ahluwalia says despite the border closures as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, they have managed to have representation as one region of Pacific Ocean Custodians.
He hopes all participants will take further the knowledge and skills they have acquired over the past two weeks and apply it towards improving their respective seafood business.
Ahluwalia says this training is even more timely in the current economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He says it is even more timely in the current economic impacts of the COVID-19.
Ahluwalia says it is pleasing to see that the Pacific-European Union Marine Partnership Project is a beacon of light in providing opportunities for communities to equip them with practical skills towards poverty alleviation and self-sufficiency.
The USP Pacific-European Union Marine Partnership Project is supported by the European Union and Sweden.
The funding is 45 million euros.
