Peru’s National Fund for Fisheries Development (Fondepes) has delivered 140,000 trout fingerlings to be reared in lakes high in the mountains, as part of a national initiative to guarantee food security.
The latest consignment of these baby trout was delivered to floating cages installed in the Islacocha and Alvión lagoons in the Cajamarca region. This follows 40,000 delivered to the Ticllacocha Lagoon in Uchuraccay-Huanta-Ayacucho province and a further 40,000 to the Asoca lagoon in Castilla-Arequipa province, all of which are locations more than 4000 meters above sea level.
According to José Ignacio Adrades Sosa, head of Fondepes, which is part of the Ministry of Production, the objective is to promote trout production, guarantee food safety and combat anaemia in children and pregnant mothers.
‘This is a large project that we are developing in the high Andean areas and also in the jungle of our country. The idea is to provide fingerlings to the most remote towns in Peru, then train and teach their inhabitants in raising them, so that later they themselves are the beneficiaries,’ he said.
The initiative includes and covers the costs of installation of cages and training in how to manage the process of raising fingerlings into adult trout, as well the provision of fingerlings.
Fondepes has scheduled further deliveries of fingerlings for the Apurímac region, Abancay province, Lambrama district and Atancama community.
