BY JOHN HOUANIHAU
World Wide Fund for Nature Solomon Islands (WWF-SI) Conservation Manager, Henry Kaniki said WWF-SI acknowledges the challenges faced by local sea grapes farmers in Western Province.
He said WWF SI is partnering with four communities in the Western Province, namely; Kongulavata, Sairagi, Boboe, and Pusiju.
He said this partnership is to support sustainable sea grapes harvesting andto improve local livelihoods and empower and promote the conservation of marine ecosystems through nature-based solution
“Obvious challenge for sea grapes is the high sea temperature. It affects sea grapes growth. The communities themselves even noticed,” Kaniki said.
He said people also experienced most of their sea grapes close to the shoreline dying during dry weather.
“This usually occurs during low tides. However, when the high tides come back, the sea grapes started to recover and grew faster again. This related to climate change,” he said.
He said that sea grapes usually grow healthy when the sea condition is favourable.
“For example, it quickly grew and branch out after two weeks later after harvesting. It is quick to recover and grow,” he said.
He said the other challenge is overharvesting by villagers despite them having rules in place.
“You know what happens at the rural communities. So, when there is overharvesting, sea grapes take time to grow or recover.
“Even though they have rules in place, others can still break the rules.
“Thus, our team continues to provide capacity trainings to ease these challenges,” he said.
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