From seafood to seaweed

By Mark Oloo

As fish stocks decline due to environmental factors, coastal communities that have relied on fishing are turning to seaweed farming and land agriculture.

Dr Florence Musuya, a marine scientist at the University of Dar es Salaam, displays dry seaweed ready for export.  [PHOTO: Mark Oloo/Standard]

Locals are profitably harnessing seaweeds, according to scientists from the University of Dar-es Salaam and the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute. The crop is a fundamental component of the marine ecosystem and is used as food and fertiliser. It is also a rich resource for chemical ingredients.

Dr Florence Musuya, a marine scientist at the University of Dar es Salaam’s Institute of Marine Studies, says seaweed makes up 21 per cent of marine exports from Zanzibar, which generates about Sh4 billion a year.

In the international market, she says, a tonne of seaweed crop fetches between Sh31,200 and Sh35,100.

Locally known as mwani, the crop is valued for its gel and is used in the manufacture of lotions, candies, ice creams and shampoos. In the east coast of Zanzibar, it is used to manufacture soap.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation, world aquaculture production of seaweed is more than 11.5 million tonnes, with a value of about Sh468 billion. China accounts for nine million tonnes.

In Europe, seaweed cultivation is done on a small scale, with France being the main commercial producer, growing 35 tonnes.

The degradation of the ocean’s traditional fisheries resources is mainly attributed to climate change, habitat loss and over-exploitation. Marine researchers have raised the red flag over ecosystem degradation and changes in water quality and surface temperatures.

As Kenya, Tanzania and Seychelles report over-fishing, seaweed cultivation is seen as a means of reducing stress on fisheries.

Fish production in the Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa stands at about 2.8 million metric tonnes a year, with the potential of reaching 6.7 million metric tonnes. But with over exploitation, researchers say, the fisheries face a dismal forecast.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation and based on fish harvest records from 1950 to 1994, 35 per cent of commercial fish stocks declined. Another 25 per cent show steady yields but are being fished at their biological limit.

The organisation says the harvest of over-exploited fish stocks has dropped 40 per cent in just nine years.

In Tanga, Zanzibar and Pemba islands and parts of Lamu, seaweed projects are now an integral means of marine conservation as communities seek livelihoods and marine protected areas (MPAs) rejuvenate.

In Zanzibar’s Kidoti village, women have mastered the science of planting on low tide, sorting, drying, and selling the weed to processing firms.

Basic

Musuya says seaweed farming uses basic technology and is suited to the lifestyles of rural folk who are left with few alternative income opportunities as oceanic resources dwindle.

According to Fishonline, there are over 9,000 species of seaweed globally.

Various types are used as soup stock and seasoning. They are also used in beauty products such as moisturisers and in health bath supplements.

Seaweed is a source of agar and alginates that are ingredients in a range of products including yoghurt and pet food.

Mrs Tatu Jumafumu, the chairman of Tusufemoyo Women Group in Kidoti, says they export the weeds to Denmark, US, Spain, France and Seychelles.

Deep water system is used in planting and each farm has 50 lines of the plant grown on the shallow bed and attached to strings.

Popular in Bagamoyo, Lindi, Kirwa and Tanga, the crop was introduced in Zanzibar in early 1970s from Philippines but extensive growing began in 1989. Most popular are Spinosum and Cotonie types, grown under the Sea Weed Cluster Initiative.

"The project is picking up but lack of marketing and post-harvesting processes pose challenges. We need support and training to improve," Jumafumu told the writer during a field trip organised by the Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association and Sweden’s Institute for further education of journalists.

She says the locals need help to improve post-harvest seaweed processing and to set up farmers’ co-operative to help negotiate better pricing. Middlemen, the farmers say, exploit them.

In Fumba, Zanzibar, residents eke a living through a pearl project, in which they sell oysters to Hawaii. This is one of the many projects run by the Institute of Marine Studies headed by researcher Narriman Jedawwi.

Earn

"Communities can be sensitised to earn living through initiatives that also conserve the biodiversity. This helps reduce poverty among coastal communities," says Dr Jedawwi.

The Zanzibar pearl project has partnered with the University of Hawaii.

Scientists believe by exploiting marine resources through environment friendly means, communities can conserve the endangered marine ecosystem, including the reef system and mangroves.

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