JICA teaches about fish

Ajeltake Elementary students visited MIMRA’s fish market to learn about local fish and processing. Photo: Isaac Marty.
Ajeltake Elementary students visited MIMRA’s fish market to learn about local fish and processing. Photo: Isaac Marty.

Mone (Bluespine unicornfish), Mera (Parrotfish), Jera (Sabre squirrelfish), and other local fishes were jotted down in notebooks of Ajeltake Elementary School (AES) sixth graders as they learned about the benefits of the local resource. They visited the Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority’s Fish Market in Uliga late last month.
The event was an activity put together by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) volunteers on island. According to JICA volunteer and Fish Market Management Control Advisor Shinichi Yoshida who initiated the idea for the activity, the aim was to engage students from AES, Uliga, Delap, Rairok, and Woja elementary schools (each on separate following visits) in learning and promoting healthy lifestyles. “We want to give kids a field study,” he said. “Beside promoting marketing, it is also important to teach them about the importance of eating fish and how it can help fight diabetes, the number one problem in the islands.”
Read more about this in the Marshall Islands Journal by subscribing. Email [email protected] for details.