July 2013

The Fishing & living™ program partnered with Fish Quarantine Inspection Agency (FQIA) & Valcapfish-Agency For Marine And Fisheries Human Resources Development of Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (MMAF), DKP (Provincial Government Fisheries Management Department under MMAF) Province Moluccas and IMACS-USAID to hold  and organize a 2 day Training of  Trainer (TOT) in Ambon, Moluccas.

This was one of a series of Academia-Business-Government (ABG) collaboration activities to improve the quality and safety of tuna loins in Moluccas, focused on export grade tuna, but also delivering information on how best to improve the quality of the entire fishery, including that for local consumption.

Quality and safety have to start from the beginning of the supply chain, which is when they are caught. The main goal of this TOT Workshop was to teach participants to be extension workers of the government. This allows the fishermen to directly gain information on quality issues from these extension workers, which until now has been difficult especially in the regional areas in Moluccas, where government officials may not often reach the individual fishermen.

From a total of 18 participants, 4 Fishing & Living staff joined this TOT with other participants from government (FQIA, DKP and LPPMHP) as well as quality control staff of various exporters from the Ambon region. Besides gaining general knowledge about quality and safety of the fish, the participants were also trained on how to pass along that information to the fishermen.