In an effort to provide families with more protein, CODEP built over 50 cement fish ponds in the mountains of Cormier. Most of these are operated by groups of workers and they share in the fish harvest. Some are owned by families. Because of the recent political problems in the past few years, the fish project has suffered. It relied on commercial fish pellets to feed the fish, and that became increasingly difficult to ship in.

In April, our good friends from Woods Hole, MA , Bill Mebane and Nick Warren, came to our rescue and spent a week here educating the animators on fish pond management. Their goals changed somewhat after spending time in the mountains and reviewing other options. It is their conclusion that there is little need for commercial food, but that fish can grow at the same rate by eating periphyton grown in the pond. That is algae to most of us. We set our animators to experimenting with local products, and they came up with ingenious ideas on how to get more food to grow in their ponds. Using bamboo, coconut fronds, wire, fish nets, and even plastic containers, they have renewed their ponds and are growing the needed fish food to have successful harvests! Crucial to each pond’s peripyton growth is a water compost. Food scraps, green and dry grasses and leaves, and animal wastes are turning their ponds a rich green, a fish’s favorite color! Their ponds have become grazing areas for their fish. Now they will not have to rely upon expensive and often hard to get commercial fish food.

Nick is spending a month with us again, working with the animators and restocking ponds. We can hardly wait to see the results.