Farming the Ocean (Seaweeds Cultivation and Utilization)

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Foreword Seaweeds form one of the important living resources of the oceans. But of the total world production of seaweeds of about 1821x10 tonnes per annum, the contribution of India is very negligible. About 806 species of marine algae have been recorded from the Indian coast with a maximum number of species from Tamil Nadu coast.

Preface To a common man seaweeds are unwanted plants growing in the sea. Two decades back I also held the same view, until my close Japanese friend and roommate Prof. Shunji Hosaka offered me to eat a piece of dried seaweed. After eating the seaweed and observing many seaweed products I made up my mind to pursue research in seaweeds. During this period I travelled extensively all over the globe to learn and understand more about this enigmatic plants.

Introduction The unprecedented population growth, unchecked industrial expansion and urbanization have diverted the human attention for ocean exploitation. Among its vast living resources, seaweeds are one of the best source of food, fodder, fertilizer, medicine and chemicals. Although fish and prawns have been fully exploited and successfully farmed, seaweed farming has been restricted to a few countries only. Today it is a multibillion dollar industry and according to FAO report the current seaweed gel industry alone is worth over US $ 1 billion. There are nearly 24 million tonnes of wet seaweeds worth hundreds of millions of dollars which have been produced annually in the four major oriental countries namely China, Japan, Korea and Philippines involving nearly 6,70,000 people. This figure is increasing every year. Other countries like Indonesia, Brazil, Chile, Namibia, New Zealand, Norway, USA, U.K. France. Spain and others have many seaweed industries. Recently Thailand, Vietnam and Tanzania have come up as new seaweed production centres.

**Contents and Sample Pages**