POMBWE Beach Management Unit on to sustainable sea cucumber farming

This capacity strengthening followed a request from women members of Pombwe BMU to fulfill the socio-economic needs of female-led households by having alternative income sources from coastal-related activities. This capacity-building initiative has paved the way for sustainable sea cucumber farming and trading that will improve the individual and national economy. 

The training covered eleven (11) topics to provide a practical ground regarding sustainable sea cucumber farming techniques including

i) Introduction to sea cucumber farming, ii) Site selection for sea cucumber farms, iii) Sea cucumber pens construction and maintenance, iv) Live sea cucumber transportation and stocking, v) Water quality management in sea cucumber farms  vi) Management of sea cucumber growth and welfare in farms; vii) Sea cucumber predation control; viii) Sea cucumber loss and poaching control in farms; ix) Biosecurity in sea cucumber farms; x) Records management in sea cucumber farms; xi) Post-harvest loss control and marketing of sea cucumbers.

Japhet Masigo the project executant for livelihood, food security and enterprise development said the The training is expected to provide sustainable income generation among Pombwe BMU members through the expansion of legal sea cucumber farming and trading, consequently improving the sea cucumber mariculture value chain and communities livelihoods.

Following the completion of the training the trainees developed a sea cucumber farming sustainability strategy to rapidly spearhead the establishment of sea cucumber farming in their village. Among other things these are the deliberations from the training:

i. Formation of sea cucumber construction and management committee. This committee will be responsible for supervising sea cucumber pen construction, sea cucumber broodstock collection, farm security and management activities. The committee agreed to commence its task 5 days after the training.

ii. Initial support of 30 x 30 sea cucumber pens capable of stocking 2000 fingerlings. WWF agreed to support the trained beneficiaries a start-up equipment capital comprise of sea cucumbers construction materials, 2000 sea cucumber fingerlings and sea cucumber management materials. The proposed support will be capable of stocking 2000 sea cucumbers while generating annual profit margin of TSh 10,880,000.

iii. Strong supervision and guidance from the DFO’s and FETA. The sea cucumber farming enterprise will be closely supervised by the Kibiti District Council under the District Fisheries Officers and Kiongoroni Ward Councillor. Furthermore, FETA experts responsible for this training agreed to offer technical advice to the beneficiaries during the establishment and operation of sea cucumber farms to safeguard the initial success.

Sadiki Hakimu  Mpili, a community member from Pombwe BMU said  “I am so excited about the future after this training, i look forward to establishing my own proper site for sea cucumber farming but i also look forward to working with my fellow villagers to see that whatever we will be doing contributes to the protection and conservation of the ocean as we know our lives and the lives of our children depend on it”.