Culture of Sargassum in Korea: Techniques and Potential for Culture in the U.S.

Sargassum (Family Sargassaceae, Order Fucales) represents the most common species of brown macroalgae in tropical to warm temperate waters (Guiry and Guiry 2013). It is the most diverse genus of marine macrophytes with more than 130 described species (Xie et al. 2013), with 28 species in Korea (Hwang et al. 2006). Sargassum species, collectively referred to in this document as sargassum, include a wide variety of forms and reproductive strategies (Mattio and Payri 2011) that provide important ecological and economical benefits including nutrient cycling (Wanders 1976, Carpenter and Cox 1974). Intertidal and subtidal sargassum beds provide food, habitat, and nursery grounds for a wide array of marine organisms (Tsukidate 1992), while also providing food, alginates, feed, and bioactive compounds for people who harvest or culture sargassum (Belleme and Belleme 2007, Zhao et al. 2008, Xie et al. 2013)(1).