Seaweed Aquaculture

""Seaweed cultivation is rapidly expanding globally. The leading region for seaweed production is Asia, although other regions (i.e., South America, Africa and Europe) have increasingly begun to cultivate selected seaweeds in response to rising global demand for a wide range of products dedicated to human consumption, such as food, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals. Other uses include agricultural fertilisers, livestock feed, biofuels, biomaterials used, for example in food packaging, and more recently the capture of atmospheric carbon.

Currently, seaweed production accounts for ~51% of total global marine and coastal aquaculture production by volume, equating to nearly 35 million t. Exponential growth of the seaweed industry, particularly in the last 50 years, resulted in the sector reaching US$14.7 billion in 2019. Seaweeds are cultivated in over 54 countries worldwide at various scales, fromless than one to many thousands of hectares. The seaweed industry provides jobs to over 6 million farmers, predominantly in coastal communities in low and middleincome countries. These communities mostly sell their seaweed products to foreign, multi-national companies for processing and export." Corrier-Cook (2022, Download PDF)

• Introduction
  
  

Aquaculture

• Low-tech vs High-tech
• Large-scale
• World production
• Seaweed Farming in Africa [Download PDF]
  • Seaweed aquaculture and mechanical harvesting: an evidence review to support sustainable management. Natural England Research Report NECR378 [Download PDF]
    
    

Nori

• Cultivation in Japan
  
  

Kelp

• Cultivation in China
  
  

Eucheumoid algae

• Cultivation (By Dr Leila Hayashi)

 

 

Seaweed Biosecurity is an increasingly important issue in seaweed aquaculture (Download a PDF).

Guide to Commercially Important Seaweeds on the Irish Coast. Download PDF.

 

 

 

 

 

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