Flower Ezekiel Msuya (born 1959) is a Tanzanian phycologist. She specialises in

algaculture Algaculture is a form of aquaculture involving the farming of species of algae. The majority of algae that are intentionally cultivated fall into the category of microalgae (also referred to as phytoplankton, microphytes, or planktonic algae ...

(seaweed farming) and integrated

aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. Nelu ...

Early life and education

Flower Ezekiel Msuya was born in 1959 in Kifula (

Ugweno Ugweno (or ''Vughonu'' to its inhabitants) is located within the Mwanga District, Kilimanjaro Region, Tanzania, Africa. It is situated at 3° 39' 0" South and 37° 39' 0" East in the Pare Mountains. The people who live in Ugweno are known as Wagweno ...

), a division of

Mwanga District Mwanga is one of the seven districts of the Kilimanjaro Region of Tanzania. The district covers an area of , It is bordered to the northeast by Kenya, to the northwest by the Moshi Rural District, to the southwest by Simanjiro District of Manyar ...

in the

Kilimanjaro Region Kilimanjaro Region (''Mkoa wa Kilimanjaro'' in Swahili language, Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative Regions of Tanzania, regions. The regional capital and largest city is the municipality of Moshi, Tanzania, Moshi. With the 3rd highe ...

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

. She earned her BSc in botany and statistics from the

University of Dar es Salaam The University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) (Swahili: ''Chuo Kikuu cha Dar es Salaam'') is a public university located in Ubungo District, Dar es Salaam Region, Tanzania. It was established in 1961 as an affiliate college of the University of London. ...

. She received an MSc in fisheries and aquaculture from the

University of Kuopio The University of Eastern Finland () is a university in Finland, which was founded in 2010 and has campuses in Joensuu and Kuopio. History The Finnish Parliament passed the Universities Act on June 16, 2009, which, among other things, extended ...

in Finland. Based on a course in phycology (the study of algae and seaweed), she developed an interest in seaweed farming. She earned her PhD in seaweed-integrated aquaculture from

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) is a Public university, public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and ...

in 2004. Her thesis, "The Influence of Culture Regimes on the Performance of Seaweed Biofilters in Integrated Mariculture", examined the use of seaweed as biofilters for fishpond effluent water.

Career

From 1993 to 1996, Msuya researched the socioeconomic and environmental impacts of seaweed farming. She pioneered the start of seaweed farming in southern Tanzania in 1995 and 1996. From 2005 she has been researching technologies to add value to seaweed (e.g. for making tubular nets). Since 2017 Msuya has been part of a team implementing the GlobalSeaweedSTAR project to safeguard the future of seaweed aquaculture against the effects of

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

in countries such as

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

and

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

. A project led by the Scottish Association of Marine Science (SAMS) and funded by the

UK Research and Innovation UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is a non-departmental public body of the Government of the United Kingdom that directs research and innovation funding, funded through the science budget of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology ...

Global Challenges Research Fund. Msuya has worked as a research officer at the Tanzania Fisheries Research Institute (TAFIRI) in Kigoma, Tanzania. She is a former Chief Laboratory Scientist and Senior Researcher in Marine Biology at the Institute of Marine Sciences of the

based in

Zanzibar Zanzibar is a Tanzanian archipelago off the coast of East Africa. It is located in the Indian Ocean, and consists of many small Island, islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, referred to informally as Zanzibar) and Pemba Island. ...

. The need for the Tanzanian industry to develop resilience towards environmental impacts has been a key focus area for her. Msuya is one of five international trainers in Innovation and Cluster Facilitation. She trains on seaweed farming technologies, value addition and integrating seaweed with other marine products such as

sea cucumber Sea cucumbers are echinoderms from the class (biology), class Holothuroidea ( ). They are benthic marine animals found on the sea floor worldwide, and the number of known holothuroid species worldwide is about 1,786, with the greatest number be ...

s, shellfish and finfish. Msuya has worked with

FAO The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; . (FAO) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition ...

WIEGO Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO) is a Manchester-based global research - policy network focused on improving conditions for workers in the informal economy. WIEGO's members include membership-based organizations of ...

UNIDO The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) (French: Organisation des Nations unies pour le développement industriel; French/Spanish acronym: ONUDI) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that assists countries in ...

and WWF. She has contributed to the start of seaweed farming in

Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...

Rodrigues Rodrigues ( ; Mauritian Creole, Creole: ) is a Autonomous administrative division, autonomous Outer islands of Mauritius, outer island of the Republic of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, about east of Mauritius. It is part of the Mascarene Isl ...

and

Mayotte Mayotte ( ; , ; , ; , ), officially the Department of Mayotte (), is an Overseas France, overseas Overseas departments and regions of France, department and region and single territorial collectivity of France. It is one of the Overseas departm ...

. She is a member of the Tropical Agriculture Association (TAA), the

Royal Society of Biology The Royal Society of Biology (RSB), previously called the Society of Biology, is a learned society and professional association in the United Kingdom created to advance the interests of biology in academia, industry, education, and research. Fo ...

(RSB), the World Aquaculture Society (WAS), the International Seaweed Association (ISA),

Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association (WIOMSA) is a regional professional, non-governmental, non-profit, membership organization, registered in Zanzibar, Tanzania. The organization is dedicated to promoting the educational, scientific a ...

(WIOMSA) and the Pan African Competitiveness Forum (PACF). Msuya is the founder and chairperson of the Zanzibar Seaweed Cluster Initiative (ZaSCI). As part of this initiative, she has contributed to producing seaweed products including powder, cosmetics and foods. ZaSCI is also assisting

to scale-up seaweed processing through implementing seaweed processing plants for semi-refined

carrageenan Carrageenans or carrageenins ( ; ) are a family of natural linear sulfation, sulfated polysaccharides. They are extracted from red algae, red edible seaweeds. Carrageenans are widely used in the food industry, for their gelling, thickening, an ...

(the gel that determines the quality of the red seaweeds farmed in the island).

Selected publications

* * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Msuya, Flower Ezekiel 1959 births Living people Tanzanian scientists Tanzanian women scientists Academic staff of the University of Dar es Salaam Tel Aviv University alumni University of Dar es Salaam alumni Phycologists Women phycologists People from Kilimanjaro Region

Early life and education

Career

Selected publications

See also

References