Staff Reporter

MASERU — Lesotho has started exporting commercial farmed fish to Japan. Highlands Trout, the company operating the fish farm at Katse Dam, said the first batch of the fish was sent to Japan last week. Stuart Slabbert, Highlands Trout’s project manager, told Bloomberg news agency that the company has capacity to produce about 4 000 metric tons or US$20 million (about M1.7 bilion) of fish a year.

Grant Merrick, general manager of the Highlands Trout, said the company plans to take advantage of the huge demand for trout fish in Japan.
“We will target Japan where there’s a huge demand for trout,” Merrick said. Highlands Trout employs 60 people at its operations.
Slabbert said private investors put up the funds for the business but declined to say who they are. The company is co-owned by aquaculture investment groups Advance Africa Management Services and Pure Ocean Aquaculture. The company imports fish eggs from the US and Denmark. Feed is imported from France.
— Bloomberg