Flower Msuya | |
---|---|
Born | 1959 (age 64–65) Kifula, Tanganyika Territory |
Alma mater | University of Dar es Salaam University of Kuopio Tel Aviv University |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Phycology, algaculture |
Institutions | University of Dar es Salaam |
Thesis | The Influence of Culture Regimes on the Performance of Seaweed Biofilters in Integrated Mariculture (2004) |
Flower Ezekiel Msuya (born 1959) is a Tanzanian phycologist. She specialises in algaculture (seaweed farming) and integrated aquaculture. [1]
Flower Ezekiel Msuya was born in 1959 in Kifula [2] (Ugweno), a division of Mwanga District in the Kilimanjaro Region of Tanzania. [3] She earned her BSc in botany and statistics from the University of Dar es Salaam. [3] She received an MSc in fisheries and aquaculture from the University of Kuopio in Finland. [2] Based on a course in phycology (the study of algae and seaweed), [3] she developed an interest in seaweed farming. She earned her PhD in seaweed-integrated aquaculture from Tel Aviv University in 2004. [1] Her thesis, "The Influence of Culture Regimes on the Performance of Seaweed Biofilters in Integrated Mariculture", examined the use of seaweed as biofilters for fishpond effluent water. [4]
From 1993 to 1996, Msuya researched the socioeconomic and environmental impacts of seaweed farming. [2] [5] She pioneered the start of seaweed farming in southern Tanzania in 1995 and 1996. [2] [5] From 2005 she has been researching technologies to add value to seaweed (e.g. for making tubular nets). [2]
Since 2017 Msuya has been part of a team implementing the GlobalSeaweedSTAR project to safeguard the future of seaweed aquaculture against the effects of climate change in countries such as Tanzania, Philippines and Malaysia. A project led by the Scottish Association of Marine Science (SAMS) and funded by the UK Research and Innovation Global Challenges Research Fund. [6]
Msuya has worked as a research officer at the Tanzania Fisheries Research Institute (TAFIRI) in Kigoma, Tanzania. She is a former Chief Laboratory Scientist and Senior Researcher in Marine Biology at the Institute of Marine Sciences of the University of Dar es Salaam based in Zanzibar. [7] The need for the Tanzanian industry to develop resilience towards environmental impacts has been a key focus area for her. [8]
Msuya is one of five international trainers in Innovation and Cluster Facilitation. She trains on seaweed farming technologies, value addition and integrating seaweed with other marine products such as sea cucumbers, shellfish and finfish. [9]
Msuya has worked with FAO, WIEGO, UNIDO and WWF. She has contributed to the start of seaweed farming in Mauritius, Rodrigues and Mayotte. [2]
She is a member of the Tropical Agriculture Association (TAA), the Royal Society of Biology (RSB), [2] the World Aquaculture Society (WAS), [10] the International Seaweed Association (ISA), Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association (WIOMSA) and the Pan African Competitiveness Forum (PACF). [2]
Msuya is the founder and chairperson of the Zanzibar Seaweed Cluster Initiative (ZaSCI). As part of this initiative, she has contributed to producing seaweed products [11] including powder, cosmetics and foods. [12] [9] ZaSCI is also assisting Zanzibar to scale-up seaweed processing through implementing seaweed processing plants for semi-refined carrageenan (the gel that determines the quality of the red seaweeds farmed in the island). [2]
Aquaculture, also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants. Aquaculture involves cultivating freshwater, brackish water and saltwater populations under controlled or semi-natural conditions, and can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is the harvesting of wild fish. Aquaculture is also a practice used for restoring and rehabilitating marine and freshwater ecosystems. Mariculture, commonly known as marine farming, is aquaculture in seawater habitats and lagoons, as opposed to freshwater aquaculture. Pisciculture is a type of aquaculture that consists of fish farming to obtain fish products as food.
Mariculture, sometimes called marine farming or marine aquaculture, is a specialized branch of aquaculture involving the cultivation of marine organisms for food and other animal products, in enclosed sections of the open ocean, fish farms built on littoral waters, or in artificial tanks, ponds or raceways which are filled with seawater. An example of the latter is the farming of marine fish, including finfish and shellfish like prawns, or oysters and seaweed in saltwater ponds. Non-food products produced by mariculture include: fish meal, nutrient agar, jewellery, and cosmetics.
Zanzibar is an insular semi-autonomous region which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, 25–50 km (16–31 mi) off the coast of the African mainland, and consists of many small islands and two large ones: Unguja and Pemba Island. The capital is Zanzibar City, located on the island of Unguja. Its historic centre, Stone Town, is a World Heritage Site.
Biofiltration is a pollution control technique using a bioreactor containing living material to capture and biologically degrade pollutants. Common uses include processing waste water, capturing harmful chemicals or silt from surface runoff, and microbiotic oxidation of contaminants in air. Industrial biofiltration can be classified as the process of utilizing biological oxidation to remove volatile organic compounds, odors, and hydrocarbons.
Caulerpa is a genus of seaweeds in the family Caulerpaceae. They are unusual because they consist of only one cell with many nuclei, making them among the biggest single cells in the world.
Ulva lactuca, also known by the common name sea lettuce, is an edible green alga in the family Ulvaceae. It is the type species of the genus Ulva. A synonym is U. fenestrata, referring to its "windowed" or "holed" appearance, Despite the name, it is not a lettuce
Macrocystis is a monospecific genus of kelp with all species now synonymous with Macrocystis pyrifera. It is commonly known as giant kelp or bladder kelp. This genus contains the largest of all the Phaeophyceae or brown algae. Macrocystis has pneumatocysts at the base of its blades. Sporophytes are perennial and the individual may live for up to three years; stipes/fronds within a whole individual undergo senescence, where each frond may persist for approximately 100 days. The genus is found widely in subtropical, temperate, and sub-Antarctic oceans of the Southern Hemisphere and in the northeast Pacific from Baja California to Sitka, Alaska. Macrocystis is often a major component of temperate kelp forests.
The University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) is a public university located in Ubungo District, Dar es Salaam Region, Tanzania. It was established in 1961 as an affiliate college of the University of London. The university became an affiliate of the University of East Africa (UEA) in 1963, shortly after Tanzania gained its independence from the United Kingdom. In 1970, UEA split into three independent universities: Makerere University in Uganda, the University of Nairobi in Kenya, and the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.
Oyster farming is an aquaculture practice in which oysters are bred and raised mainly for their pearls, shells and inner organ tissue, which is eaten. Oyster farming was practiced by the ancient Romans as early as the 1st century BC on the Italian peninsula and later in Britain for export to Rome. The French oyster industry has relied on aquacultured oysters since the late 18th century.
The Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute was established in the government of India on 3 February 1947 under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and later, in 1967, it joined the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) family and emerged as a leading tropical marine fisheries research institute in the world. The Headquarters of the ICAR-CMFRI is located in Kochi, Kerala. Initially the institute focused its research efforts on creating a strong database on marine fisheries sector by developing scientific methodologies for estimating the marine fish landings and effort inputs, taxonomy of marine organisms and the biological aspects of the exploited stocks of finfish and shellfish on which fisheries management were to be based. This focus contributed significantly to development of the marine fisheries sector from a predominantly artisanal, sustenance fishery till the early sixties to that of a complex, multi-gear, multi-species fisheries.
Integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) is a type of aquaculture where the byproducts, including waste, from one aquatic species are used as inputs for another. Farmers combine fed aquaculture with inorganic extractive and organic extractive aquaculture to create balanced systems for environment remediation (biomitigation), economic stability and social acceptability.
Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of Rhodophyta (red), Phaeophyta (brown) and Chlorophyta (green) macroalgae. Seaweed species such as kelps provide essential nursery habitat for fisheries and other marine species and thus protect food sources; other species, such as planktonic algae, play a vital role in capturing carbon and producing at least 50% of Earth's oxygen.
Seaweed farming or kelp farming is the practice of cultivating and harvesting seaweed. In its simplest form farmers gather from natural beds, while at the other extreme farmers fully control the crop's life cycle.
Eucheuma, commonly known as sea moss or gusô, is a rhodophyte seaweed that may vary in color. Eucheuma species are used in the production of carrageenan, an ingredient for cosmetics, food processing, and industrial manufacturing, as well as a food source for people in the Philippines, Caribbean and parts of Indonesia and Malaysia. Eucheuma cottonii – which grows in the Caribbean and cultivated in the Philippines – is the particular species known as gusô. Other species include Betaphycus gelatinae, Eucheuma denticulatum, and several species of the genus Kappaphycus, including K. alvarezii. Since the mid-1970s, Kappaphycus and Eucheuma have been a major source for the expansion of the carrageenan industry.
South Korea is a major center of aquaculture production, and the world's third largest producer of farmed algae as of 2020.
Aquaculture of giant kelp, Macrocystis pyrifera, is the cultivation of kelp for uses such as food, dietary supplements or potash. Giant kelp contains iodine, potassium, other minerals vitamins and carbohydrates.
Aquaculture in Madagascar started to take off in the 1980s. The industry includes the cultivation of sea cucumbers, seaweed, fish and shrimp and is being used to stimulate the country's economy, increase the wages of fishermen and women, and improve the regions ocean water quality. Coastal regions of Madagascar are reliant on the Indian Ocean's marine resources as a source of food, income, and cultural identity.
Ulva australis, the southern sea lettuce, is a species of bright green coloured seaweed in the family Ulvaceae that can be found in waters around Australia and was first described by Swedish botanist Johan Erhard Areschoug. It is an edible green algae, although sometimes designated as a seaweed. General characteristics of Ulva australis include a smooth surface, distromatic blades, lobed fronds, and thallus color from dark green to light grass green. It can be either free floating or attached by a single holdfast. Its cells appear to be irregularly arranged, have rounded edges, and have shapes such as rectilinear, square, and pentagonal.
Seaweed fertiliser is organic fertilizer made from seaweed that is used in agriculture to increase soil fertility and plant growth. The use of seaweed fertilizer dates back to antiquity and has a broad array of benefits for soils. Seaweed fertilizer can be applied in a number of different forms, including refined liquid extracts and dried, pulverized organic material. Through its composition of various bioactive molecules, seaweed functions as a strong soil conditioner, bio-remediator, and biological pest control, with each seaweed phylum offering various benefits to soil and crop health. These benefits can include increased tolerance to abiotic stressors, improved soil texture and water retention, and reduced occurrence of diseases.
Adelaida Kleti Semesi, also Adelaide K. Semesi, was a Tanzanian ecologist, who was Professor of Marine Biology at the University of Dar es Salaam. Known for her work on mangrove ecology, Semesi was the first woman to be a professor in the field of natural sciences in Tanzania.