Geger Beach, Nusa Dua, Bali Abalone Culture Update

As part of its ongoing commitment to support local communities through the promotion of alternative livelihoods, R.O.L.E continues to assist the Geger Beach Seaweed Farmers Association to create jobs and businesses through the initiation of an Abalone Culture project.

Located at Geger Beach, Nusa Dua, Bali, the Seaweed Farmers association is a community of around three hundred ex fishermen who cultivate seaweeds amongst the shallow seagrass beds for export into the pharmaceutical and cosmetics markets. Tending to the seaweed is extremely hard work and with the assistance of R.O.L.E the farmers are now looking to further methods of mariculture(marine aquaculture) to run alongside the seaweed production and supplement their income.

R.O.L.E believes abalone culture with its low environmental impact and high suitability for polyculture with seaweed farms to be an ideal ecologically sound sustainable livelihood. Belonging to the genus Haliotis, Abalones are herbivorous marine gastropods that display high levels of fecundity (ability to reproduce). Culture has a grow-out cycle of between 10 – 18 months and the risk of disease is low.  Abalone is a delicacy in many countries around the world, commanding high prices in China, Japan and the Korean markets. Alongside live export the culture can be also be canned or frozen making them an extremely versatile product.
This week R.O.L.E has assisted with the completion of the four-chamber abalone cage, which will be placed alongside the seaweed beds in the tidal zone of Geger beach. Over the coming months brood stocks will be transferred to the cage as we look to increase abalone production in the area. The mariculture of both abalone and seaweed is viewed as an environmentally sound means of improving economic conditions. Furthermore they are simple to cultivate, with low capitol investment required and provide an ideal alternative to fishing. R.O.L.E. looks forward to its continuing collaboration with the Geger Beach Seaweed Farmers Association.

....Chris Mason-Parker MSc

ROLE believes that the health of the Marine Environment and the health of Coastal Communities are inextricably linked.
Over fishing, coastal beachfront development, ever increasing waste discharge and upstream pollutants have placed marine resources, including tropical coral reefs and lagoons, and local fisheries in sharp environmental decline. The income derived, the food sourced and the protein and nutrition attained from these recourses by most coastal communities have dried up or become insufficient.

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