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Farmers are participating in a seaweed culture project Photo courtesy of AwF |
A TSUNAMI relief fund supported by donations from YSI continues to provide aid to victims of the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia.
The Fund for Rebuilding Aquaculture in Tsunami-Affected Areas is administered by Aquaculture without Frontiers, which works in conjunction with local citizens and the country’s Directorate General of Aquaculture.
Donations from YSI, given through the World Aquaculture Society, have thus far funded three aquaculture-related recovery projects over the past 18 months.
The first project restored tambaks (coastal ponds) and water supplies for fish farmers in Banda Aceh; the second project is developing seaweed cultures in the village of Kareung, where 127 people survived the tsunami.
Getting underway now is a project to develop wild shrimp broodstock in Province Nangroe Aceh Darussalam. Regionally a majority of the shrimp hatcheries were destroyed and most of the infrastructure and facilities have been destroyed or damaged. Of the 223 hatcheries in Aceh, 193 were extensively damaged. The scope of this relief project includes supplying fishing gear, rehabilitating ponds and tanks, and training shrimp farmers to ensure hatcheries produce high quality fry stock and collectors to ensure proper handling of wild caught shrimp.
Tim Grooms, YSI Product Manager, notes that the long-term effects of these projects are positive.
“Our donations help to create jobs and income for fishers whose livelihoods were severely hampered by the tsunami,” he states. “In addition, each funded project helps to restore small segments of the aquaculture sector and provide localised, long-term aquaculture infrastructure. Worldwide the demand for quality seafood is increasing, so these recovered farming operations are definitely needed.”
YSI is a global, employee-owned company that designs sensor instrumentation and real-time monitoring systems for professionals who protect natural resources and aquatic life. Its Fund for Rebuilding Aquaculture in Tsunami-Affected Areas raised more than $25,000 in private donations from its employees, directors, retirees, and suppliers. In addition to this amount, the YSI Foundation donated $50,000.
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