Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Products of Mangroves
Non-Food Products- Sawn Timber
Produced by
Heritiera and
Xylocarpus and they produce high-quality timber but are unfortunately very scarce.
- Poles
Made from
Rhizophora species (bakau piles) and one of the most common extraction product in the region and are easily harvested by manual methods and they have a short crop-rotation period in managed forests like the one in the Malay Peninsula.
- Fuel Wood/ Charcoal
This may be used directly or after conversion into charcoal. Rhizophora species wood have a high calorific value meaning that they produce more heat for the same weight, and are thus the major species exploited. Charcoal manufacture still occurs in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. For examples, managed forests are found in Peninsular Malaysia.
- Tannins and Dyes
Bark of mangrove trees are harvested as a source of tannin for the tanning industry. High tannin content is found especially in members of the Rhizophoraceae, to increase their resistance to herbivores. With development of cheap synthetic tannic acids after World War II, the commercial exploitation of mangrove bark has dropped to almost zero. Mangrove sap is, however, still used by East Africans or Polynesians to make the black dye for tapa cloth.
- Raw materials for industries
Mangrove trees are exploited for the lignocellulose for the manufacture of chipboard, pulpwood (newspaper and cardboard) or synthetic materials (e.g., rayon).
Food Products
-Nipah Products
These include industrial ethanol from distillation of the fermented plant sap from a decapitated inflorescence, vinegar or fermented beverages, sugar (gula melaka) by boiling the plant sap, attap or thatch for roofing huts, cigarette papers from the stripped surface layers of the leaf lets and a form of salt from the ashed leaflets. The endosperm of the unripe seed (attap chee) is soaked in a syrup and is a common component (and some say significant part) of a local dessert called ice-kacang. The fruit is harvested from the Nipah and other palms and processed in a syrup before being sold.
-Seafood
Oysters, clams, mussels, cockles and other shellfish may be harvested directly or cultivated for consumption. Prawn and crab ponds converted from mangrove areas were a common sight in Singapore until recently. The Blood cockle (Anadara granosa, Family Arcidae) is actually a mudflat animal and rather rare in Singapore. Large quantities, however, are imported from neighbouring countries. In many areas, cockles are actually cultured.
-Fish
(
Grouper, milkfish, mullet, sea bass,
tilapia) are grown in ponds, floating cages or corrals which are fenced up areas in sheltered waters. In Taiwan, mudskippers are cultured.
Mud crabs (Scylia spp.) are cultivated or fattened in such ponds. Many larger species of sesarmine crabs (e.g.
Tree-climbing or Vinegar crabs) are collected in large numbers in Thailand and Indonesia for food. Stockpiling and game farming of nearshore marine animals such as cockles, giant clams and sea cucumbers are practised by Indonesians and Melanesians.
-Edible Plant Products
Commercial honey is extracted from some mangrove areas as many of the flowers are animal-pollinated and have nectar as a reward. In Taiwan, Gracilaria, a red
algae, is cultivated in abandoned fish ponds or old saltpans, as raw material for agar-agar.
-Live Pet Food
Small frogs sold in aquariums as live food for carnivorous fish and other animals are usually juvenile
Crab-eating frogs (Rana cancrivora).
Special thanks and acknowledgements to:
http://mangrove.nus.edu.sg/guidebooks/text/1022a.htmPosted by:
Abigail Lim, Nicole Lim and Angelyn Ong
living nature
3:12 AM
