WIO Mariculture Forum

Since the launch in November we have been working hard with putting together these two websites, and we are pleased to announce that now they are up and running. To help us keep the Forum updated we have 9 authors from Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and Seychelles, who will post questions and moderate the discussions. We welcome any additional authors from countries in the WIO region, especially those that are not already represented, as well as authors from outside the WIO region. The role of the authors is to suggest discussion topics, upload publications, and to approve comments from the subscribers. The authors also develop and update the lists of experts and the experts’ respective fields of specialization. Furthermore, the authors maintain a list of small scale mariculture projects in the region.

The Forum website is accessible through a link at WIOMSA website, where you will also find a link to the Mariculture Network. As a member of the Network, you will receive automatic alerts to your e-mail account whenever a post, publication, announcement or any other important change is made.

We hope that you will find the Forum and Network websites useful, and that you will contribute with comments and posts on a regular basis in order to exchange information on mariculture development in the region and beyond.

ALL THE BEST AND GOOD LUCK,

Aviti J. Mmochi

Forum Co-ordinator

Introduction

A group of women seaweed farmers in Kidoti,  North Zanzibar known as “Tusife Moyo” translated as “We should not loose heart” has started to use the seaweed in the country. This work is done under the Zanzibar Seaweed Cluster Initiative of the Innovation Systems and Cluster Programme in Tanzania (ISCP-Tz). The seaweed cluster which started its activities in 2006 is one of the first 8 cluster initiatives. Up to now, the cluster has 3 groups in the villages of Bweleo, Kisakasaka, and Kidoti, all in Zanzibar and working in various aspects of seaweed farming. Seaweeds farmed in Zanzibar are mainly Eucheuma denticulatum and Kappaphycus alvarezii and to a smaller extent K. striatum. The groups have adopted a new method of farming seaweed –the deeper water floating lines method- as a way of combating Kappaphycus die-offs.

The direct use of the seaweeds in the country as a finished product has been a dream of scientists, the government, and other stakeholders. The Kidoti group which also produces spice soaps of cinnamon, clove, eucalyptus, sweet basal, and lemon grass, has recently made seaweed soap for the first time in Zanzibar. The farmers were helped by mainly the Small and Medium enterprises (SMEs) Competitiveness Facility (SCF). Other help came from Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH) and ISCP-Tz. The funds were used for training, acquisition of soap making machines, initial production of seaweed soap and initial market survey.

Acquisition of seaweed soap making machines

The machines acquired are: seaweed solar drier, seaweed grinder (disk mill), kettle with a stove and mixer for boiling and mixing the soap mixture, soap extruder for producing soap bars, and soap moulder for cutting soap bars into pieces. The machines were made at the College of Engineering and Technology (CoET) of the University of Dar es Salaam during May – December 2007. The machines were shipped to Kidoti on 29^th December and the training on the use of the machines was conducted between November 2007 and March 2008 when the first seaweed soap was made in Zanzibar. The soaps were placed in specially made seaweed soap packaging boxes which were designed by the cluster and printed by a commercial printing company. The first production was of 600 soap pieces.

Official launching of the technology transfer

The technology of producing seaweed soap was officially launched on 19^th February 2008 by the Chairman of the Board of SCF, Mr. Ibrahim Seushi and the SCF Manager, Mr. Sosthenes Sambua. The launching was witnessed by cluster members from Kidoti, Bweleo, and Kisakasaka, as well as the Kidoti village leadership.

Other products from seaweeds

The Zanzibar Seaweed Cluster has also made trial making of seaweed desserts (3 types) and is in the process of producing seaweed candies, biscuits, and soft drink. The cluster will also make liquid seaweed soap and shampoo.

For more information and purchase of seaweed soap contact:

Dr. Flower E. Msuya, Zanzibar Seaweed Cluster Facilitator at flowereze@yahoo.co, mmsuya@ims.udsm.ac.tz, or flowerem@hotmail.com.  OR

Phones: +255 786 629374, +255 777 490807, +255 777 220165

Pearl farming is a new initiative in Zanzibar which is barely 2 years old but already it has proven to be successful and has become a big attraction to researchers, entrepreneurs, politicians and communities both nationally and internationally. The pearl farming activity has shown that scientific research can be translated to ecologically and economically friendly projects. The pearl farming idea started in 2006 when an expert from the University of Hawaii USA, Dr Maria Haws visited Fumba under the SUCCESS project through WIOMSA and IMS and offered a training on pearl farming technique and jewelry making to community members of Fumba peninsula. Since its inception the project has gained a lot of recognition and many people visit the site to see for themselves the developments taking place. A total of 28 very good pearls were obtained. A number of these were sold fetching $3600 during the auction. The activity which also involved an exhibition of the products made by the women of Fumba peninsula, posters and videos was officially launched by the Minister of women and youth MS Asha Abdulla. The member of parliament Dr Mwinyihaji Makame and the Director of IMS, Prof Dubi were also present The main organizers of the function were from IMS (Dr N.S Jiddawi and Dr. Mmochi A assisted by Omar Amir, Salum Hamed, Saleh Yahya and Ngowo Redfred). Participants from WIOMSA were Dr M. Osore who gave a speech on behalf of the executive secretary of WIOMSA. Farhat Mbarouk and Semba M also assisted in the organization. The project is funded by SUCCESS through WIOMSA and facilitated by IMS.