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Cherisse Halsall rode out to the island to get a firsthand look at the Atoll's Seaweed rafts.

Saturday was graduation day on glorious Turneffe Atoll with participants having completed a three-day training on Seaweed Cultivation. The Nature Conservancy's Selim Chan gave us a rundown on the course.

Selim Chan, SeaWeed Mariculture
"We are the last day of a three days seaweed mariculture training so we've been tirelessly on the ground preparing the design, getting out into the water, planting it now it's an effort for us to then provide to our participants a certificate that they could say I've successfully completed the seaweed cultivation training course."

"They were an interesting bunch, they were quite engaging and throughout the training, we were able to accomplish a 50 by 50-foot square a seed bank that we hope will be used to then build out further farms here at Turneffe."

The training that was made available to those with a license for the Turneffe Atoll marine reserve. And while it was free, TASA operations manager Eliseo Coc says getting them there was still a challenge.

Eliseo Coc, Operations Manager, TASA
"It's not that easy because those fishers are separated throughout the atoll. So, we have our team of officers on the ground which they have a daily contact with them so we pass on the message as much as we can in terms of them going to their camps on a daily basis and relay the message and we just try to make sure that we have everything for them so that they could be really focused and be able to grasp all this knowledge being brought to them and to be able to learn as much as they can so that they can do something different."

Valdemar Andrade, Executive Director, Turneffe Atoll Sustainability Association
"We have about 200 customer users that are here year-round and so the fishing pressure for Turneffe is high but the fishing contribution for Turneffe is also high. We have one of the highest productions of lobster and conch and finfish. We contribute up to 25% of the production of the national cooperative for example and so for us, it's looking at how we can diversify the revenue and employment source for our fishers and so this seaweed mariculture program is geared toward looking at minimizing the pressure on the regular commercial species like Conch and Lobster and ensuring that the fishers have another option that can also be environmental and conservation-friendly and help us in managing the protected area together."

Having completed the course the fishermen believe that the knowledge they've gained in seaweed cultivation will give them a leg up on the day to day challenges of their trade.

Mitchell Lewis, Senior Cooperative officer, Department of Cooperatives
"It's a venture that a fisherman can actually think about as a livelihood. We all know of the challenges that we see now in that it's difficult to get fish now, they're scare, it's also that we're seeing that there are lower numbers of catch in Conch and lobster."

Joshua Mowry, Entrepreneur/ Commercial Fisher
"One of the greatest constraints as a fisherfolk is the price of fuel and everything else that is currently going up and sometimes it is hard to get the product in order to clear our expenses and make a profit. Also one of our major challenges is the weather sometimes we come out here and our ice and our fuel is depleting and we don't have a chance to actually recuperate the funds that we've invested. This is a means that we could create jobs for ourselves. This is something that in the beginning we need to do as a collective effort in order for us to make it a sustainable industry."

"It's not only to get the certification but to actually see if it is viable and the only thing that would be of time constraint for us would be because it takes three months to get your first harvest and we need to put in the time as what they say you reap what you sow so we need to be able to be out here to maintain the farm and hopefully get a good cultivation or harvest from it."

Program alumni Jessica Gibson was the only woman to technically complete this go-around of training. And when she spoke to us, she shared her firm belief that Seaweed cultivation is a skill well suited to women.

Jessica Gibson, Fisherwoman
"I would want to encourage more females to come out and take the training because it's a great opportunity in life. I've been through weather, you know bad weather, rain, sometimes we're fishing in the rain. I mean I dive too. I don't do it often but I do dive sometimes we're out there all 10, 11, 12 at night, the breeze is blowing hard I mean its rough for a female its rough for a female but I would still encourage them to come out because after, at the end of the day it pays off, it pays off. Sometimes when you go out there the lobsters aren't there or the fish aren't bitting so you know the seaweed comes in handy on the side for us to make a little extra."

Cherisse Halsall:
"We heard that you brought your daughter out here for the training, how has she handled it and adapted to it?"

Jessica Gibson, Fisherwoman
"Well to tell you the truth she is fourteen years old and she has been out here since she was a baby, she is my step-daughter by the way. She's been out here since she was a baby and to tell you the honest truth ina broad creole she badder than me ina diving, fishing, everything. She badder than me."

Eager Entrepreneurs in a budding industry, a sure indication of longevity for Seaweed cultivation in Belize.

Seaweed farms could become the next eco-tourism trend. Cultivators say that the farms double as ideal nurseries for juvenile fish and that a dive into a flourishing farm is like swimming in an aquarium.