By Lisa Carne
While some individuals have been harvesting and farming seaweed for awhile now, cooperative members have long wanted to begin mass production of sustainable seaweed farms.
Seaweed (in this case Gracelaria and Euchuma spp. both types of red algae) occurs naturally on the sea floor bottom but wild stocks can quickly become depleted if not managed or farmed. Farming is sustainable because once the ‘seed stock’ is taken from the wild, this can be used over and over. Meaning the starter fragments of algae are grown on ropes in the sea, and when harvesting after three-six months the starter fragment is left on the rope to re-grow for additional harvests.
Most readers know of the seaweed shakes offered in local restaurants and its purported benefits-“good for the back!” but seaweed also has other uses and nutritional value. Both species have carrageenan and agar, and the Gracelaria spp. also contains vitamins C, A, B2, calcium and iron.
Carrageenan is used in desserts as a thickener but can also be used in soups instead of flour. It is used in some beer making as a clarifier, and used more and more in shampoos and cosmetics. Here, some spas mix it with aloe to offer treatment for sunburn. Recent research indicates used as a gel, it is an effective inhibitor against many STD’s and even cervical cancer (no kidding!) and it is already an ingredient in many personal and condom lubricants.
Agar can also be used as a thickener in desserts (gelatin) and can work as a laxative. Agar is also used as a culture medium in microbiological work and gels used in biotechnology.
In 2005 WWF supported two seaweed cultivation workshops in Belize with expert Alan Smith from St. Lucia. Commercial seaweed farming really started in the Philippines in the 1930’s, but records indicate it was used in China in 600BC and in Ireland in 400BC.
With a $90,000.00BZ grant from COMPACT, the Placencia Producers Cooperative Ltd will conduct a refresher cultivation workshop at Glovers Reef this year where, with the Belize Fisheries Department permission and endorsement, the seed stock will be harvested to establish ten seaweed farms near Placencia. The grant includes maintenance and two harvests (18 months), and also packaging and processing the seaweed in two different stages. Dried seaweed will be vacuum sealed in bags but the co-op will also process the product one step further, boiling it and making a ready to use gel that will be sold in small tubs consumers can keep in their refrigerators for instant use.
So this time next year make sure you are buying seaweed product from the Placencia Producer’s Cooperative! For more information, contact Sydney Lopez, Jr at 523-3102.