By: Staff Writer
December 7, 2021
An entrepreneur said that there is an opportunity to diversify from tourism into the multi-billion dollar mariculture but policymakers need to take advantage of the opportunity.
Phil Cruver, president of KZO Sea Farms., told Caribbean Magazine Plus that there is a multi-billion dollar industry in Caribbean seaweed and policy makers are not positioning their countries to take advantage of it.
He said: “The Inter-American Development Bank wanted to start a distribution chain for seaweed to grown in Belize and exporting it to the United States, so I saw the potential for the seaweed industry in the Caribbean. Belize is very small. And I’m targeting Jamaica and the Bahamas because of the higher GDP.”
The Belize seaweed initiative Mr Cruver is referring happened the Seaweed Innovation Forum the IDB hosted for the country through its Compete Caribbean arm in May of this year. It was just a virtual forum complete with presentations on the benefits of harvesting seaweed.
Speaking about the potential Caribbean seaweed has, Mr Cruver said: “Nobody’s seen as a huge opportunity not to compete against Asia, with Philippines and Indonesia, but as a food ingredient.
“I’ve put together an incredible team. The engineering team with the fabrication team is a largest distributor of EPE Pipes in North America. I’ve got a great team in Europe, working with 10 years of good biologists who are growing this type of seaweed down in Venezuela right now.”
Right now the global seaweed industry is worth nearly $17bn, with researchers estimating that the commercial seaweed market size will be worth $38bn by 2028.
Prompting Mr Cruver to get on this blue opportunity before the technology passes the region by, he added: “I’ve been contacting people at the IDB, Caribbean Development Bank and then also some private investors, trying to find what country would be eager to diversify their economy and get away from tourism or at least diversify.
“We want to do a demonstration project and tried to put together a Seaplant Industry in the Caribbean for exports of food ingredients to the summer.”
KZO Sea Farms, Inc. has developed a Submersible Seaplant Structure (SSS) farming system for protecting seaplant crops from hurricanes, producing higher yields, quality control and capable of scaling the seaplant industry with secure and transparent traceability.
The initial targeted market for a Caribbean seaplant industry is high-value exports to the USA as a food ingredient for human consumption. There is a significant opportunity for sustainable and traceable seaplants harvested from pristine ocean waters that can be branded as nutritious superfood for the $168bn Dietary & Supplement market. Seaplants have 92 of the 102 essential minerals required for strengthening human immune systems for healthy living.
Mr Cruver also said: “The two big industries are in Asia. Forge China right now, but there is Indonesia, The Philippines and Malaysia the size of the market is about a $10bn. They have seaweed and they convert it to carotene, which is a food ingredient. They are doing the same thing that they are doing in Belize, it’s archaic.