 My name is Mary Glenda-Japier, but I love the name Glenda. My name is Mosea Senville. My name is Medonia Williams-Antony. These women are the face of a new wave of Seema's farmers in the eastern Caribbean island of Dominica and are part of local cooperatives established to grow the marine superfood. Natesha and Glenda work together in the Seaforce Seamos Group in Calibishi on the island's northeast coast, while Medina and Mercia are members of the Grand Bay Seamos Production Group further south. There is another group in Woodford Hill, just a short drive up the coast from Calibishi. In Calibishi, we love Seamos and there is a lot of Seamos that has been grown in Calibishi. Not that we plant it, but it's grown by God. So we love Seamos and it was like a hobby. This is a hobby no more, as many of the group members are seeking to supplement their income through Seamos farming. Because our group is made up of more women than men, so that would be the way of women empowerment, so that's why we study planting Seamos. It will help the women to be more independent. Right now some women are doing Seamos as a side job, so when the industries start growing and you start seeing dollar signs, you start seeing money, right now Seamos will not be the side job again, it's going to be the sole income there for the women. Dorian Sanford, technical officer at Dominica's Fisheries Division sees the promise of a robust Seamos industry on the island. So the division has been back on a robust mission to develop the Seamos industry in Dominica. Traditionally in Dominica, Seamos was used in the production of beverages in cooking and the wild species was sourced for this purpose. Over the years, demand has increased significantly and producers began sourcing their Seamos from neighboring islands such as Grenada and St. Lucia. The Fisheries Division through the Ford and Agriculture Organization FAO has introduced the Yukima-Kotenei species from St. Lucia to Dominica in hopes of developing an industry that can meet this demand. To further support the sustainable development of the sector, national consultations were held with various stakeholders to determine the way forward. The FAO has provided equipment such as snorkels, wetsuits and scuba fins to the farmers and provided hands-on immersive training through a Seamos farming expert from St. Lucia, Mr. Thomas Nelson. Topics covered included harvesting best practices, post-harvest handling and site selection. We from Fisheries Division, we are the technical officers, we learned a lot from that training. The farmers themselves learned a lot from that training. For example, the type of Seamos technique that we do in Dominica is the mono-line technique where we have one single line about 110 feet and we would plant the Seamos on this train. So, with the intervention of Mr. Thomas, he introduced other techniques like the RAF technique where we could cut the lines a bit shorter so to make them easier for harvesting and that type of thing. So I must say the groups, everybody turned out in large numbers from all locations, Grande, Woodford Hill, Kali Bishi, and they were very sophisticated information. And presently, you can actually see the groups putting those training that they learned from Mr. Nelson's interaction. We are happier than that. Happy because production levels have been visibly increased. I must say that production level from the local Seamos to the new species, the Utima Kotone, has doubled. So we now have groups now harvesting Seamos on a weekly basis like anywhere between 400 pounds to 720 pounds of Seamos at present. So the Seamos industry is an industry where the women can be managers of their own farm, they can grow the Seamos, they can use the product for themselves and they can use the excess to sell to bring an income for themselves. So the Seamos industry is not an industry that is so labor-intensive. So the women, they can fully participate in it, they can be managers of their own farm, they can have their own farm with people working for them and that type of thing. And the Seamos industry is a lucrative industry. So it can bring in both income and a source of food for their farmers. So the women Seamos farmers of Dominica will benefit a great deal from the FAO project. I see an expansion, I see more workers, I see more production and in terms of the production I see more money according to the super dollar signs on the products. Because of the great demand of Seamos here locally and abroad because I believe that there is a great potential in the Seamos to improve, to help to build the country and not only the country but people in the country for those who decide to go into Seamos farming where they can be able to provide for their families, they can be able to assist orders. In five years time I see that the Seamos production business not just being a farming part but then in Dominica we have a factory. We have a factory for the juices, we have a factory for the pharmaceuticals, we have a factory for the cosmetic part of it. A successful Seamos industry is one where our group generating enough money, enough finance that we don't have to look another place, we don't have to have another side job. It will be our main source of income that we can help our families. The future looks promising for the women Seamos farmers of Dominica.