Institute of Marine Sciences

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Browsing Institute of Marine Sciences by Subject "Anatomy"

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    Growth performance, survival and community perspective on sponges farmed in Jambian, Zanzibar- Tanzania
    (University of Dar es Salaam, 2019) Hamad, Asma Ahmada
    Sponges are important components of marine benthos worldwide. While efforts continue to develop methods for large-scale production of bath sponge, the global supply is too low to satisfy the demand. The present study explored the growth performance, survival and community perspective on sponges farmed in Jambiani, Zanzibar Tanzania. The experiment was set to investigate growth and survival of two commercial both sponges Agelas mauritiana var. oxeata and Callyspongiidae sp using off-bottom and floating raft culture methods. Water displacement method was used to determine initial and final volume of sponges to assess their growth. Household questionnaire survey, focus group discussion and key informant interviews were used collect data on community awareness and perspective towards sponge farming. Descriptive statistics of mean and percentage were used. A multiple comparison test (post hoc analysis) was used to determine variation in survival and growth of sponges between the methods used. Results revealed that, final survival of Callyspongiidae sp varied significantly between farming methods (p<0.05) compared to Agelas Mauritian var. oxeata (p>0.05) Overall, the highest species survival was observed in floating raft method. In contrast, growth of Callyspongiidae sp in floating raft was higher than Agelas mauritiana var. oxeata farmed in both methods. The results showed that a large part of community were aware of sponge farming and are supportive. However, the study suggests that, introduction of sponge farming should not be taken up lightly; there are issues of importance to be considered which include long-term research of ecological feasibility with innovative methods and in-depth social feasibility study.