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Sustainable Alternative to Develop Local Capacities |
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Written by Delicia Leyva Morales|
Wednesday, 23 May 2012 10:09
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The creation of an experimental and demonstrative farm for the cultivation of commercial sponges is among the employment, local development and sustainable production alternatives of the fishing sector in the Sabana-Camagüey archipelago, after the elimination of fishing gears (hammock boats) aggressive to the habitat of commercially important fish species.
"The proposal is compatible with other activities at sea, it does not generate pollution or exploit natural sponge beds" said MSc Leidy Bucarazo Montano, a specialist Center for Environmental Studies and Services (CESS) in the province of Villa Clara.
The investment is recovered in a short time and the production incomes increase according to the demand on the international market and the quality of the species, which in the case of the female type sponges (with fine pores and compact), the price exceeds $ 50 000 per ton.
"The initiative benefits the workers of the fishing industry and is a source of employment for women in the communities near coastal areas, many of them housewives unrelated to the socio-economic life of the territory", she said.
The project, compatible with the objectives of natural resource management of the wildlife refuge, was implemented in Las Filipinas bay, in the province of Villa Clara, has not been widespread yet, and since 2007 it is linked to Carahatas village, in the municipality Quemado de Guines and in the the Las Picúas-Cayo del Cristo protected area, in the central side of the country.
Celso Pazos Alberdi, delegate of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (CITMA) in Ciego de Ávila, highlighted the importance of the initiative for the conservation of sponges and as a socio-economic state and family alternative, an experience to be widespread in other marine protected areas.
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