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But, seaweed is actually a highly sought after high protein nutrient. And. on Friday a group of conservationists, business owners and other private sector stakeholders visited a seaweed farm in Placencia. Except the farm is in the sea! They wanted to see first-hand how the marine plant is cultivated and discuss the possibility of developing the seaweed industry in Belize and in the region. Here is more from that trip.

Julia Robinson, Oceans Manager, The Nature Conservancy
"Today we are working with our partner BELTRAIDE in order to bring out industry and stakeholders to seaweed farms that we have been working on in collaboration with the Placencia Cooperative and also with the Belize Fisheries Department. What we are trying to do is trying to show and tell the story behind seaweed farming and the importance that that can make within an industry we are working with BELTRAIDE in trying to develop here in Belize. So a big part of that is to understand where the seaweed is coming from, the importance of the seaweed, not just to the economy of Belize, but also for the environment and the fact that the seaweed provides restorative functions for our environment. It provides important habitat for ecological and commercial species and it's also - we are starting to see that it could play a role in mitigating against climate change. There is a lot of benefits behind the seaweed. Its not just about the induste4y, but it's also about the environment and today it was really about bring out representatives for example from Big H, BELTEX - bringing these people out here so they could see the potential for the growth of seaweed and incorporating into new products. We are trying to develop new supply chains and value chains within Belize and also for the export market as well."

"What we have in Belize is really special because the seaweed here is a much higher quality, so the prices that we are getting for seaweed is much higher than what we are seeing in the Southeast Asian places. So we are branding our seaweed and we are letting the world know that this seaweed is premium seaweed or what we called Belize Gold."

Mariko Wallen, President, BZ Women's Seaweed Farmers Assoc.
"Our seaweed group and we are basically looking for a supplementary livelihood so that we can uplift ourselves and our communities. Our main thing right now is to try to bring back our village especially and provide an income for most of us who are single mothers. In Placencia Village it was a fishing village, but now it turns to tourism, so we think that from seaweed farming we can actually revive the fisheries in our village through seaweed farming."

Seaweed farming is seen as an alternative livelihood for fishermen.