Sea-cucumber and seaweed farming in the northern lagoons, which Japan and Korea buy

A first step

Visit a lagoon village in the north and ask the people already collecting sea cucumber what they are paid per kilo and who buys it. Then write to three seafood importers in Japan and Korea with a photograph, the species and one question: at what grade and volume would you buy dried product from a farm. A reply stating a price and a minimum order shows you the gap between the beach and the buyer.

Who pays first

A seafood importer in Japan or Korea who needs a steady, traceable supply of dried sea cucumber or seaweed and pays more for graded, farmed product.

What leaves today

Sea cucumber leaves the lagoons unprocessed through traders, so the farming, drying and grading margin is captured by whoever handles it next.

The idea and the mechanism are from the book. The first step was written for this site as a suggestion; if you know a better one, say so.

The test

Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?

The only test any idea on this site has to pass. The four rules that go with it are here.

In the book

• Ch. TwoAn Island Nobody Has Counted
  An ocean eight times the size of the land

More from cluster 13

• 251Sailing charters and a yacht marina at Galle or Trincomalee, with the crew trained here
• 252Diving schools at the wrecks of Trincomalee and the reefs of the east, certified to international standard
• 253Sport fishing charters with catch-and-release, sold to the Gulf and Europe
• 255Tuna graded, loined and vacuum-packed at the harbour for the sashimi market, not sold whole
• 256Crab and prawn from the lagoons as a branded chilled export, with the lagoon's name
• 257Dried fish and Maldive fish for Sri Lankans abroad, packed to a food-safety standard

All 20 ideas in this cluster