Fishermen of Vio Island will no longer have to spend long nights selling fish on the mainland.

This is after they acquired a new $4483 solar deep freezer, which was handed over to the community on Thursday.

The initiative was a collaborative effort between the Pacific Islands Development Forum (PIDF), Dawn Renewable Energy Pte Limited and Commissioner West.

Vio Island advisory councillor Semi Mana said fishermen could now earn more for their families because they could divide the lefto­ver fish that they sell on the main­land.

“This will be a big help to the fish­ermen because when they return from selling late, they are willing to sell their catch at a low price be­cause they don’t have anywhere to store their fish,” he said.

“Secondly, the community mem­bers who need their food items re­frigerated like chicken, before we would pay those who have ice, but now things will be easier for com­munity members.”

Pacific Islands Development Fo­rum Co-ordinator Island Resil­ience and Project Manager Arti Chand said a delegation from the PIDF visited last year to conduct an analysis of what the island needed.

“We were told fishermen cannot store fish in the village and have to sell it. So, we have a solution thanks to Paul (Dawn Renewable Energy chief executive officer Paul Huang) that we have a solution of solar freezers,” she said.

She said the main reason for es­tablishing the solar-powered deep freezer at the Vio Island kindergar­ten in the centre of the community was its accessibility.

Dawn Renewable Energy chief executive officer Paul Huang said the solar freezer was operated by a smart system.

Commissioner Western Mesake Ledua urged community members to remove solar panels for the deep freezer in the event of a natural disaster to ensure it was not dam­aged.

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