Feature: Rising sea temperature poses threat to seaweed farming in Tanzania

Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-17 19:53:47|Editor: huaxia
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DAR ES SALAAM, April 17 (Xinhua) -- A Tanzanian marine biologist has observed that an increase in sea surface temperature caused by climate change is posing a threat to seaweed farming in the east African nation.

Flower Msuya, a marine biologist and seaweed expert with the University of Dar es Salaam's Department of Biology, said her recent research indicates that the temperature rise has caused an outbreak of diseases of seaweeds.

"The outbreak of the diseases caused by the rise in seawater temperature, especially in the shallow water areas where the seaweeds are currently farmed, result in poor growth leading to decreased production," Msuya told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Msuya said high water temperatures cause epiphytes and diseases like ice-ice, leading to die-offs of seaweeds.

In Tanzania, seaweed is mainly farmed in shallow waters in coastal areas of the mainland and the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean. A water temperature ranging from 25 degrees Celsius to 30 degrees Celsius is best for growing seaweeds.

According to her research, the highest water temperature in the shallow water areas had risen from 31 degrees Celsius in the 1990s to 38 degrees Celsius in 2019 during hot season from December to February.

Msuya said the hostile weather conditions have seen annual seaweed production in the country decreasing from 15,000 tonnes in 2012 to 10,708 tonnes in 2019.

"Farmers are now forced to stop farming during the hot season and resume farming during the rainy and cold seasons," she said.

Safia Hashim, a seaweed farmer in Bweleo village in Mjini Magharibi B region on Zanzibar's Unguja Island, said the rise of seawater temperature has made life unbearable for seaweed farmers.

"Five years ago I used to harvest between 200 and 300 kilograms of seaweeds a week but now after the seawater temperature rise I am only harvesting less than 50 kilograms of seaweed a week," she told Xinhua.

Hashim said the decline in seaweed harvests has affected her immensely because she is not able to pay tuition fees for her two daughters who are in university.

Fatma Mohamed Makame, another seaweed farmer in Makangale village on Zanzibar's Pemba Island, echoes Hashim's woes, saying the rise of seawater temperature is making them spend sleepless nights.

"Seaweed farming is our lifeline. Without seaweed farming our future is doomed," she said.

Msuya said efforts to cope with these climate change impacts are being made through research involving different stakeholders, including the farming communities, government and private sector.

She said that moving seaweed farms to deeper waters and developing deeper-water farming technologies are major coping strategies.

The seaweed industry in Tanzania employs about 30,000 farmers. Most of the seaweed produced in Tanzania is exported, mainly as unprocessed raw materials to France, Denmark and the United States, said Msuya. Enditem

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