The grey sponges in our small farm have recovered from the disease with only a small number of individuals being re-infected. This is in stark contrast to the almost complete loss of cultured seaweed in the Jambiani lagoon (see News June/July). Given the good growth of non-infected sponges we decided to turn the test farm into our first productive sponge farm. Based on a new structure the small farm will be reinforced and extended.
The small farm prior to its extension
The existing sponges will be cut up in order to multiply the number of seedlings. We intend to expand the farm until April 2014 to 2000 – 3000 specimens by collecting new sponges. This initial stock should be sufficient to achieve a first harvest by the end of 2014. Our first sponge farmer Key will be trained on a day-to-day basis. She will be managing the farm on her own as soon as the success of the project is foreseeable.
Our lovely sponge keeper
Local shops display interest.
The Seaweed Center in neighbouring Paje (http://www.seaweedcenter.com) intends to sell its seaweed soaps together with local sponges and the local collective Moto (http://motozanzibar.wordpress.com ) is interested in adding our sponges to their Dada branded product range.
It is important to us to focus on the local market until we can guarantee larger volumes, which is a prerequisite for larger, international buyers.