Home Special Note PanaSea…Science, Nature and Aquaculture that Generates Social and Economic Development in Colon

PanaSea…Science, Nature and Aquaculture that Generates Social and Economic Development in Colon

In a small Afro-Caribbean town, scientists, residents and fish farmers are helping to reproduce a species that helps human health, the economy, cleaning up pollution and slowing down climate change.

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Puerto Lindo is located on Costa Arriba de Colon, very close to La Guaira and Isla Grande. An amazing and endangered marine animal is being cultivated and repopulated in this place using aquaculture, the very first hatchery in the Americas for Sea Cucumbers.

The Sea Cucumber, an Endangered Species

Since the 16th century, Chinese explorers from around the world connected with various commodities, including the Sea Cucumbers of the Caribbean coast. The popularity of this species as a food delicacy or as oriental medicine has been known since 800 years before Christ. Its benefits have caused its overexploitation, generating a global market for this species of $16,000 million per year, which has brought it to the brink of extinction.

Miracle of the Sea that Reduces Climate Change and Improves Health

The Sea Cucumber is found amongst mangroves and shallow seabed with coral reef and sea grass. They help to reduce ocean acidification, as well as improving the ability of sea grass to sequester carbon dioxide.  Sea Cucumbers are one of the most incredible marine animals due to their ability to help protect and regenerate the entire reef ecosystem. They are essentially the earth worms of the sea.  Scientists indicate that there are no records of the amount of time that this marine species can live, however its regeneration capacity is so great that in three days it can regenerate a wound on its body.

It is also proven that Sea Cucumber improves people’s health since they have anti-carcinogenic and antioxidant compounds. They also help lower high cholesterol and hypertension among other faculties. It is a miracle of the sea, since they eat all the fish sediment, the fish poop and dead algae. In short, everything that falls to the seabed is ingested and recycled by the Sea Cucumber. This recycling process generates a chemical process in the stomach of these species that converts acidic elements into alkaline ones. In a reef system, the Sea Cucumber controls the algae population so that it does not affect the health of the reef and creates a bubble of alkaline water in the area, helping to maintain the health of the water and the rest of the species.

Regenerating the Sea Cucumber Population

PanaSea is a company founded by David Grossman, an american with the aim of regenerating the Sea Cucumber population to meet global demand. They have been achieving this by restoring natural resources and generating both a social and economic impact in the Caribbean.

One of the missions of this innovative project is to protect and monitor as many sea cucumbers as possible to restore the region’s endangered populations. In Grossman’s opinion, without the intervention of sustainable aquaculture today, Sea Cucumbers would go extinct in the coming years.

One of the first stages of this scientific undertaking with a wide social scope was to investigate what type of algae they eat in nature and which is the best for their food.

Unique Species in the World that Lives in Colon

The species of Sea Cucumber that PanaSea is reproducing in Colon is called Holothuria Mexicana, the only one in the world that has a totally different reproductive cycle. This is because once hatched, in just five days they develop into fully formed juvenile Sea Cucumbers. This is an amazing process as it normally takes 12-20 days in virtually all other known species. This species can be found throughout the Caribbean from Venezuela all the way to the Florida keys. PanaSea hopes that their efforts can contribute to the repopulation of this vital species throughout the entire Caribbean basin.

Second Stage of the Project

PanaSea’s laboratories grow small cucumbers until they are returned to the sea. For several months the larvae grow in the hatchery until they become juvenile cucumbers. Once the Sea Cucumbers grow to the appropriate size, they are placed in sea pens located in coastal areas, which protect them from predators and allow continuous monitoring by PanaSea scientists.

General Information

Telephone: 6572-7638

Website: www.panasea.io

Address: Innova 109 in the City of Knowledge

Photos courtesy: PanaSea

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