From Across the World

Ice Cream from the Sea

In traditional Zanzibari culture, men are the breadwinners for the family. The role of women follows the stereotypical image of homemaker: caring for children, cooking, cleaning and caring for the elderly. This power structure traditionally gave men all the decision making power in the household, and would leave the women totally dependent on their husbands. However, social roles have changed over more recent times as global ideas of gender roles and morals have influenced east Africa. Today, women in Zanzibar are interested in being able to support their own families, have equal decision making power in the family, and generate their own incomes for economic independence from their husbands. There are a few main routes that women are taking to gain employment, or generate income. The tourism industry has opened a few limited opportunities, but the majority of the options available to these women are natural resource based: making charcoal, harvesting cockles (a bivalve similar to a clam), and the most popular, seaweed farming which was introduced in 1989.

 

Seaweed, or rather the secondary products extracted from seaweed, are widely used in products that you use everyday. Dried seaweed provides products like algin (used in cosmetics, car paint, paper production, and in waterproofing or flame retardant products) agar (biology lab plates) and carrageenan (food thickening agent). Without these products, you as a consumer would not be enjoying products with the desirable textures you have come to expect. My favorite examples are toothpaste and ice cream. Read the labels, they are probably contain this naturally occurring thickening agent derived from seaweed.

 

The Farming

The seaweed farms are run worked exclusively by women and children. It is strenuous, backbreaking work. The seaweed is grown on suspended lines in 20×30 foot plots, usually about 100 to 200 feet from shore in shallow water where they will not be exposed during low tides. The areas used for the farms must be sheltered from currents and waves, so they are located inside either a natural coral reef or artificial barrier reef made from concrete blocks.

 

Although the women are making money on the seaweed, it is miniscule and far below the market value. It takes anywhere between 1 and 3 months to grow seaweed to harvestable size. The women then dry the seaweed and sell it at a fixed dry weight price of around 200 Tanzanian shillings per kilogram. This is roughly 20 cents US. The seaweed buying/selling process is fixed due to a monopolized market. Buyers supply village women with the lines they need to set up the farms in exchange for the promise of all the seaweed they produce. Each line will yield only approximately 1.5 kilograms of dry seaweed, but will require her careful, daily attention for over a month.

 

The Effects

The environmental effects of seaweed farming are may seem limited, but combined with so many other environmental impacts that the area is experiencing, even seemingly inconsequential practices are far reaching. Calm, shallow water protected from the rough open ocean is prime ecosystem to support sea grass beds. These naturally occurring lawns are extremely important for coastal ecosystems. They act as natural filters for sediment and nutrient runoff from the land, as habitat for many fish and invertebrates, as well as breeding grounds for many reef and pelagic species. Seaweed farms thrive in the same conditions as sea grass beds, so in Zanzibar, almost all natural beds are now covered by farms. In order to harvest and tend their seaweed, women must walk out to the farms over these sea grass beds. This stirs up sand and sediment that increases the turbidity and tears up the sea grass structure. In turn, the sea grass beds are no longer able to function as the buffer between the land and coral reefs. The reefs in Zanzibar are dramatically weakened due to coral bleaching, sedimentation and destructive fishing practices, and so this simple destruction of the sea grass beds only amplifies the susceptibility of these reefs.

 

On the social side of the equation, seaweed farming has had profound impacts on improving the lives of the women, and their families, in these villages. Increased financial stability has changed the power dynamic in homes, and studies have shown that husbands and wives are now making decisions together, women are more likely to leave unhealthy relationships, and that communities are more likely to have healthier children.

 

Obviously there are positive and negative aspects of this industry, as there are in all that are natural resource based. An important aspect to consider is the long term sustainability of this farming. With global climate change so greatly effecting coastal areas, it is legitimate to question the long term viability of these farms. Will water temperatures be conducive to farming? How about the changes in species diversity in these areas? Perhaps changes in the diversity will bring new predators or diseases that will disintegrate the industry. Perhaps this will be the only surviving agriculture practice in Zanzibar and is therefore critical for the people living there. Only time will tell.

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