More Studies on Sea Moss Industry Potential

Contact: John Emmanuel

Tuesday, February 06, 2001 - The Department of Fisheries is intensifying efforts to assess the growth of the sea moss industry on the island. The move comes as part of attempts to at assist coastal communities in developing additional and alternative economic activities.

Sea moss cultivation has proven to be a lucrative sustainable activity that can be undertaken by costal communities, with minimum environmental impediments. Fisheries officials have be working closely with sea moss farmers in Praslin, Vieux Fort and Laborie as a means of boosting the industry.

Fisheries Biologist Dr. Marie Louis-Felix says the department is working with the Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI) on the scientific research surrounding sea moss cultivation. "We’re trying to collect information as far as the level of production of sea moss right now on the island and ways in which that level of production can be enhanced. We’re also trying to get information from the ground on how many lines we already have in the water and the potential for expansion," she elaborated.

Emphasis, Mrs. Louis-Felix noted, is being placed also on assisting farmers in setting up sea moss processing plants. The Department of Fisheries along with the Rural Enterprise Project and the Poverty Reduction Fund have been instrumental in helping farmers at Praslin set up a processing plant. The plant came into operation last October and has been producing sea moss gel and supplying it to a number of organizations around the country.

In addition to the production of both milk and non-milk based sea moss drinks, farmers in the area have now shifted focus to producing sea moss ice cream.

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