Here are some photos of Arno Atoll sent through by Biorock project manager Erik Hagberg.

These are pics from around Arno, the last (above) is of one of the locations of the Biorock installation

Erik has been working with the people of Arno to develop a sustainable sea cucumber farming industry on the islands. His company has started to provide training for the locals in how to sustainably harvest sea cucumbers alongside working to establish a harvesting cooperative for them in which they all own a shares in. Erik’s company then sells and distributes the cucumbers, presently the product is in high demand as a result of harvesting the species in large numbers has been very difficult – Erik intends to change this. The people of Arno have an ideal location to ramp up the sustainable harvesting of sea cucumbers. They have granted Erik and his company exclusive rights to farm the species on the island in exchange for him helping them develop an infrastructure that will support the development of this industry. Erik and his team are working with the people to give them not only ownership of the farm, but also get them registered mail boxes and bank accounts and educate them on how they can responsibly manage their new incomes.

About Sea Cucumbers:

These marine animals have some interesting nutritional and medicinal properties. They are 85% protein and a staple for islands nation locals as well as many Asian countries. They have been used in traditional Chinese  medicine for years  to help combat many different ailments and recently the Japanese have been using the species to treat Malaria, Cancer and HIV patients. An amazing aspect of this sea cucumber farm initiative is the point that unlike other marine farming such as salmon, there is no identified environmental impact to farming the species. This is one of the underlying goals of Erik, to build a sustainable industry that doesnt thrive at the expense of the environment..