Pufferfish leather gets attention on World Ocean day
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) today launched a number of support initiatives for ocean innovators to demonstrate new environmentally and socially economic activities, for a healthy and resilient ocean.
One such recipient of the support, a financial package of up to US$250,000 for two years, plus mentoring is Mersea Marine Consulting. Their project concerns the Silver-cheeked toadfish, also known as the Pufferfish, an invasive species with major impact in areas along the Turkish coast in the Mediterranean sea.
In controlling the populations of the species, Mersea Marine Consulting aim to develop a market for the sustainable exotic fish leather giving benefit to the marine ecosystem but also to the livelihoods of marginalised local people and fishers. Approximately 30 small-scale fishers will directly benefit from the new diversified income stream. The skins will be collected and tanned in small batches for the production of leather goods.
The project has been described as “aiming to substitute the niche market for exotic leathers such as snakes and alligators, a 10-billion-dollar industry, in line with consumer shifts towards ecological products with cumulative benefits to marine ecosystem health”.
Image - Mersea Marine Consulting with the Pufferfish skins
