Seaweed Mariculture – Entry Level Training

Funder

The Nature Conservancy (Project ID: GBELIZ-062923)

Cofinancing

The Nature Conservancy (Project ID: GBELIZ-080422)

Timeframe

July – September 2023

Seaweed Mariculture – Entry Level Training

There is a need to increase seaweed farms and capacity to farm seaweed in Belize, as demand grows. The Entry-Level Training Project was designed to bring more people into the seaweed mariculture industry. Over four days, a diverse group of fishers, tour guides, entrepreneurs, and young women gathered in Placencia. They learned not just how to farm seaweed, but how to see themselves as leaders in a growing industry.

The training was as much about community and empowerment as it was about technical skills. Participants built friendships, networks, and confidence — all while practicing the knots and bolts of seaweed farming in the water.

Highlights

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Fourteen (14) participants, including 8 women from across Belize, completed the course
The training covered farm design, seed selection, planting, maintenance, harvesting, and post-harvest handling.
Rope splicing, raffia preparation, actual construction of a 50ft x 50ft seaweed farm plot, and planting at the BWSFA seaweed farm near Hatchet/Ray Caye.

Outcomes

The training created more than farmers — it created champions for seaweed. Graduates left with skills they could immediately apply, but also with a sense of pride in being part of something bigger: a blue economy that values women’s leadership and community resilience.

Partners

Legacy

This project built the human capital that every industry expansion requires. It also contributed to BWSFA’s growth in terms of farms, finance, and people. The women and men trained here became the backbone of future initiatives, carrying forward the vision of sustainable seaweed mariculture into their communities.