The Tuvalu Department of Tourism (TTD) hosted its first annual Fishing and cooking competition in Funafuti, last week.

The tourism department partnered with Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) a multi-donor programme that works with Least Developed Countries (LDC) to host the 3-day event, in the build up to the launch of Tuvalu’s Sustainable Tourism Policy on June 3^rd.

42 boats initially registered however, 30 boats departed. While 4 from that 30 were disqualified due to arriving late after the set time. The fishing competition was held at the Kavatoetoe Park area.

For the cooking competition, 20 groups registered, however only 12 groups completed the final registration and were briefed on the rules and expectations of the competition. This was held at the Tau Maketi venue at Vaiaku, Funafuti.

TTD Principal Officer Paufi Afelee said the two events were initially planned to be staged separately however, it was more efficient to utilise the catch from the fishing competition for the cooking competition.

“We wanted to organise such events to create awareness around the Department’s activities for the year. We also wanted to document the dishes that were created for the cooking competition and consolidate them into a cookbook for launching at a later date,” she said.

“This idea worked out perfectly. The catch from those who were placed 1st, 2nd and 3rd from the fishing competition were then used in the cooking competition which included a quiz for spectators and prizes of 3kg bags of fish were awarded as consolation prizes, when answered correctly. It’s been quite enlightening to be able to implement those activities and be able to learn from them for future events.”

Ms Afelee mentioned that the event would not have been possible without the financial support of the EIF project under the Trade department. Adding that the TTD and EIF have been working closely to bring about such events for the year.

The EIF Project works in collaboration with the Tourism Department in implementing their activities. The goal is to enhance the EIF mission and vision through targeted support for the tourism sector. Primarily, the two activities aim to strengthen the Tourism sector’s capacity in improving the sustainable use of the aquatic ecosystem and promote appreciation of the country’s socio-cultural heritage.