“An appeal for People to stop stealing Sea Moss from allocated plots”

St. Andrews Grenada

September 4, 2019

Freshly, Harvested Sea Moss

It is very much unacceptable that unauthorized persons are going into the Sea Moss Plots, part of a community Aquaculture project in Telescope Bay, Grenville St. Andrews Stealing Sea Moss that is very young and has not fully matured, and where hours of hard labor has gone into keeping these plots sustainable.

Mr. Willan Andrews CEO “LABALO” training Dr. Ashley John how to set up a sea moss plot in Grenada.

Dr. Ashley John, one of the sustainable development project consultants, partnering in collaboration with the La-Baye Alternative Lvelihoods Organisation Inc. (LABALO) says “we have been observing people are boldly going into the sea moss plots and breaking off the “young” sea moss either for personal use or to make quick sales, we need to immediately curb this practice in the past ten days we lost 460 bunches of sea moss only re-planted four weeks ago as part of two experimental plots being used to help upscale
the operations of LABALO” before this we lost over two hundred bunches from other plots, and two other sea moss farmers also drew to his attention people have been stealing from their plots as well”.

What people need to be aware of is that these projects are protected by mechanisms put in place by the Fisheries Division respectively, when you enter a sea moss plot, note it is not regarded as “growing in the wild” but instead you are trespassing and can be prosecuted.

These aquaculture projects are funded by international agencies and when they go in and interfere with the growing sea moss it seriously jeopardizes the project outcomes and the sustainable livelihoods of those hard-working citizens in the community of St.
Andrews who have faced the hot sun, water for hours within a three month period.

This has been a significant loos to us, financially and intellectually, we have lost data collection and returns on the investment. We are therefore appealing for people to STOP this practice immediately. Just last Friday thanks to the swift actions of Inspector Francis and His team of officers from Grenville Police Station we were able to sternly address this practice and put a ban in place from persons entering the allocated 50’000 sq feet of beach granted by the local Fisheries division towards the success of these aquaculture projects.

Police spoke with a woman in the community who was observed enabling a group of about ten young boys to steal the sea moss and bring it to her on the bay. We are putting in place suggestions to help us curb this practice:

1) Get in touch with one of the project coordinators if you are so interested in being part of sea moss farming and harvesting indicate your interest, get the relevant training and be prepared to make the necessary investment to own your own plots.

2) We are going to be placing security camera surveillance within these allocated spaces and we will continue to monitor and see who is removing the sea moss from the plots;

3) additionally we will be working very closely with the Police to put a stop to these practices and there is intending prosecution by law for anyone who is caught in Predial Larceny.

4) We have asked the Police to help us survey the sale of raw sea moss by investigating the persons who are retailing where a receipt is to be shown and proof of a sea moss plot ownership for their suppliers.

We appeal to the public to not get involved in buying stolen property, this too is a crime and you can be prosecuted if found guilty.

To make contact with us to get involved in Aquaculture Sea Moss Farming by telephone or WhatsApp:

Mr. Willan Andrews La-Baye Alternative Livelihoods Organisation Inc. Tel +4734570312
Dr. Ashley John – Sustainable Development Projects Consultant +4734203259