Mkinga District, Tanga region in Tanzania is a seaweed farming hub that is promising sea-related, blue economy activities to improve the lives of the villagers. The coastal village of Tawalani has accumulated Sh52 million (18,420 EUR) from the sale of 52 tonnes of seaweed in six months.
Salehe Ally Sua, Tawalani Village Beach Management Unit Secretary, has said that they have secured a stable market for seaweed to sell the product at Sh 1,250 (0.44 EUR) per kilogram.
Despite the destruction of seaweed farms due to adverse climate change, the socio-economic problems of the villagers have decreased to some extent. However, there is a lack of modern seaweed farming equipment.
Mr. Abdallah Ulega, the deputy minister for Livestock and Fisheries, has called upon everyone living along the Indian Ocean coastline not to depend only on traditional fishing and explore more ways of sustaining their lives, such as exploiting the potential of aquatic species breeding opportunities. He added that the external market for such marine species as crabs and sea cucumbers is growing, which can be an opportunity for the coastal villagers to become economically strong nevertheless, due to lack of modern fishing gear, they are unable to do that. Ulega concluded by mentioning that coastal people can change their lives by fattening crabs and sea cucumbers which fetch high prices outside Tanzania instead of clinging to traditional fishing whose income is dwindling because of a lack of investment in modern fishing. (Source: TheCitizen)