"The 150,000 tons of seaweed were harvested from a cultivation area of 707.7 hectares, covering the waters of Nusa Penida in Klungkung district, Kutuh Beach in Badung district, Benoa, Denpasar, and Bukti Beach in Buleleng district which serve as seaweed development centers in Bali," local Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Office spokesman Gusti Putu Nuriatha said here on Saturday.
He said the seaweed production centers in Bali had a great potential but unfortunately a small part of it has been used.
Gusti Putu Nuriatha said the coastal areas of Nusa Penida, a small island located around 19 miles southeast of Bali, had endangered seaweed of spinosum type found nowhere else around the world.
Local people started to know that spinosum was endangered seaweed after researchers from the Bogor-based Institute of Agriculture and the Denpasar-based Udayana University conducted researches on the seaweed in Nusa Penida`s coastal area sometime ago.
"In the future the endangered species of spinosum seaweed can be developed optimally to increase its production by 353 percent in the next five years," Gusti Putu Nuriatha said.
Therefore he has provided the Nusa Penida farmers with 295 units of seaweed drying equipment.(*)
Editor: Ruslan Burhani
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