@ppcheti
Lamu fishermen displaced by the LAPSSET project have been asked to take up commercial seaweed farming as an alternative means of survival.
The Indian Ocean has a massive potential to support the venture and supplement their reduced earnings after they were displaced by dredging at the port.
At least 5,000 affected fishermen have been left with no alternative means of livelihood after key traditional fishing channels were closed off.
Efforts by the fishermen to pursue a Sh1.76 billion compensation package awarded to them by the Malindi High Court have been unsuccessful.
Globally, China is the largest producer of edible seaweeds with about five million tonnes annually.
The Lamu initiative is being fronted by the Pate Marine Community Conservancy, a Lamu-based conservation group.
The group aims to increase income and employment for communities through conserving key habitats such as mangroves, seagrasses, coral reefs and rare and threatened species such as sea turtles, seabirds, dugongs, dolphins and sharks.
The PMCC manager Nadhir Hashim urged Lamu fishermen to try their hand at seaweed farming even as they await compensation from the state.
He said the conservancy is currently in the process of training fishers on how to actively partake in the venture and make maximum profit.
Hashim said apart from creating employment for the fishers, seaweed farming will curb habitat destruction and unsustainable fishing practices.
He says it will also help conserve Lamu’s cultural heritage and increase social and ecosystem resilience to climate change.
“For development of any sort to be achieved, there is a need for people to arm themselves with alternative survival skills which include learning new ways to make livelihoods instead of wallowing in poverty,” Hashim said.
He said fishermen and the entire Lamu population have a chance to better their lives through the seaweed farming venture which can be easily and comfortably done in Lamu with handsome returns.
The conservationist cited Shimoni in Kwale county as a case in point where residents are raking in millions from seaweed farming.
“We have began engaging fishermen in forums to educate them about conservation and other opportunities at sea apart from the fishing they are used to.
"There is so much money one can make at sea without necessarily doing fishing,” Hashim said.
Introduced to the island of Zanzibar in 1988, seaweed farming currently employs 25,000 people, mostly rural women, while upwards of 150,000 people benefit indirectly from the seaweed industry.
“The people of Shimoni in Kwale can tell you just how fruitful that venture is. Look at Zanzibar, the country makes millions annually just through seaweed farming. Lamu can do the same,” he added.
(Edited by Bilha Makokha)
