Seaweed Farming
Pacific Islands – Seaweed Industry Development
The farming of Eucheuma cottonii seaweed is ideally suited for most Pacific Island coastal communities, due to the ideal water conditions. Eucheuma seaweed farming has numerous qualities that make it a very attractive livelihood opportunity for the coastal communities and offers unlimited growth potential.
The farming of Eucheuma cottonii seaweed offers a real opportunity for any coastal community with suitable ocean farming conditions to start up their family-orientated business with a minimal investment and potential financial returns that can easily support the community families and enable them to enjoy a better standard of living.
High Level of Success
There is a high rate of success when the seaweed is farmed correctly, and no formal education is required to run and operate this type of farming.
Family Business:
All members of the family can contribute to work on the seaweed farm – the elders, women, men, and even the kids find it enjoyable. It gives a sense of achievement for all ages.
Simple Technology
Eucheuma seaweed farming is an extremely basic business establishment, using simple materials and the initial cutting plant material to get started.
Sustainable Business
Considering the low cost of establishing a seaweed farm and the fact the business can start with a modest amount of plant cuttings, you can continue to take future cuttings as the plants are maturing.
Low Start-Up Capital Cost
Establishing a seaweed farm consists of stakes, ropes, anchors, floaters, seaweed cuttings, drying platforms, baskets, and a few simple tools. All inexpensive items are used to establish a community farm.
Growth Potential
Provided there is a reliable market established for the seaweed product and there are suitable coastal locations to farm the seaweed, then the growth potential is almost unlimited for the communities involved in this dynamic industry.
The farming of Eucheuma cottonii seaweed offers a real opportunity for any coastal community with suitable ocean farming conditions to start up their family-orientated business with a minimal investment and potential financial returns that can easily support the community families and enable them to enjoy a better standard of living.
This community-orientated industry can easily be combined with fishing and other community-based marine industry opportunities that the communities are either currently involved in or may decide to explore in the future. As the farming of seaweed does not require much of the community’s day to establish and maintain, this leaves many hours each day to invest in other commercial activities or family commitments.
These photos highlight how relatively simple it is to establish a seaweed farming operation and how successful Eucheuma seaweed grows in a tropical coastal community environment. This industry offers one of the better opportunities for communities, this industry can be developed through a comprehensive commercial approach and planning.
​Environmental Benefits
One of the major benefits of seaweed cultivation from an ecological perspective is that it does not require any pesticides or fertilizers, and it actually improves the quality of the water it’s grown in. Seaweed fixes nitrogen, so harvesting it can clear areas of water polluted by nitrogen fertilizers from urban or agricultural runoff. Seaweed farming can also help protect vulnerable coral reefs by increasing the diversity of local algae.
Seaweed farming is also important environmentally because it encourages local people to protect and value their seawater and its resources. In less developed countries, seaweed farming is an essential source of employment and local food production. This eases pressure on local fish stocks and can reduce overfishing by minimizing the economic necessity of fishing to survive.