Damp, rotting, smelly, rising from the depths, washed up on shorelines. Seaweed (or Macroalgae) has transitioned over time in its position and uses within the British Isles; as discussed in the thesis it has undergone an evolution from its historical use as a source of food in times of desperation, to the superfood it is lauded as today. Other applications, from medicinal to agricultural, have contributed to a narrative of seaweed’s identity over the centuries, to the appeal of seaweed as a food source in the present day. There is an increased interest in seaweed, especially for culinary purposes, in the British Isles. Research by chefs, cookbooks and innovative product ranges also frame the current attitudes in the use of seaweed in common everyday foods. The case study shows the challenges and opportunities in the current revitalised seaweed market, identifying marketing analysis approaches useful for changing the attitudes toward seaweed in the British Isles. Based on interviews with companies marketing seaweed, and a focus on Seagreens®, I draw on advertising theory and consultancy tools (such as SWOT, AGCC, ELM and DAGMAR) to analyse the current seaweed market defining what I call a ‘consumer triad’ of potential consumers. Findings indicate many possibilities for future USP endorsements depending on the target market, from health-orientated to sustainably farmed. Seaweed interest appears to be more knowledge than consumer driven, so the question instead surrounds the prospect of knowledge sharing in an integrated online manner. Meanwhile, challenges in farming, labelling and conservation within the EU hamper advancements in the field, with the balance shifting to invested interest in Blue Economy models and IMTA systems.
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The meeting brings together a select and diverse group of innovative seaweed businesses, projects and entrepreneurs with top decision-makers from the UN and other international institutions and organizations. It showcases the many ways the ambitions and initiatives of the Seaweed Manifesto are being driven forward across the world. The event is taking place on the margins of the 75th UN General Assembly.
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Seaweed mariculture has been promoted as a development project in tropical countries and Zanzibar, Tanzania, is commonly presented as a successful story. However, the results of the present research provide a nuanced picture of the activity identifying serious health problems among farmers. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with female seaweed farmers (n = 140) and non-seaweed farmers (n = 140) in Zanzibar to evaluate health and working conditions. In-depth interviews with additional 28 female seaweed farmers were performed to deepen the understanding of the working conditions and related problems. The research was undertaken at seven different locations to cover areas where seaweed is extensively executed during August to September 2009 and May to June 2010. Seaweed farmers considered their health significantly poorer than non-seaweed farmers with fatigue, musculoskeletal pain, hunger, respiratory problems, eye related problems, injuries from hazardous animals and sharp shells in the water and allergies as the most serious issues (p b 0.05). Income was further reported below the extreme poverty line. Since seaweed farming affects thousands of households in the tropics these results should encourage changes towards better working conditions and sustainability.
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Seaweed mariculture offers an economically sustainable livelihood option for fisherwomen, who, with little effort can contribute significantly to the household income. Ealier in India, seaweeds were collected from natural stocks only. Later due to the indiscriminate collection from the natural stock and consistent demand from industries for high quality seaweeds, research on seaweed farming was initiated by Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI) and Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) in the 1960’s. Today, seaweed farming techniques have been standardised, improved and made economically viable. The present paper makes an attempt to evaluate the economic performance of seaweed farming, including the employment generated in Ramanathapuram District of Tamil Nadu. The average annual net income for the three-year farming period (Rs. 6.76 lakh) was higher than the initial investment (Rs. 5.97 lakh), indicating a payback period of lesser than a year. The estimated net present value (at 20% discount rate) was Rs. 1.30 million (implying an IRR, >100%) while the benefit-cost ratio was 1.70. All these indicators substantially establish the economic and financial feasibility of seaweed farming in Tamil Nadu. The employment potential of seaweed farming at Ramanathapuram District has been estimated at 7,65,000 man days with current development projections benefiting 5,000 families in the near future.
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Seaweeds are macrophytic algae, aprimitive type of plants lacking trueroots, stems and leaves. Mostseaweeds belong to one of threedivisions - the Chlorophyta (greenalgae), the Phaeophyta (brown algae)and the Rhodophyta (red algae). Thereare about 900 species of greenseaweed, 4000 red species and 1500brown species found in nature1. Thegreatest variety of red seaweeds isfound in subtropical and tropicalwaters, while brown seaweeds are morecommon in cooler, temperate waters.
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Metabolomics is one of the emerging areas of functional genomics and provides newer insights in systems biology. The integration of metabolome with transcriptome analysis facilitates our understanding of gene functionality and its regulation in various metabolic pathways. Marine organisms have a variety of unique biological processes and adaptations suitable for their successful propagation. Marine macroalgae, known as ‘seaweeds’, are one of the economically important renewable resources of the oceans and have characteristic morphological and physiological processes quite different from terrestrial plants. Seaweeds being attached forms in intertidal region undergo periodic diverse chronic stresses arising from variations in desiccation, irradiance, ultraviolet radiation, salinity, tidal currents and others from anthropogenic activities. Despite the advancement in transcriptomics for seaweeds in recent times, the genetic regulations controlling various biochemical pathways are still in its inception and largely remain unexplored. The study of metabolomics provides a snapshot of cell’s catalytic and regulatory processes and also deciphers metabolic responses involved in plant and environment interactions. While summarizing the recent advancements made in analytical technology platforms, a comprehensive review of metabolomics was prepared and discussed from the context of functional genomics, systems biology and biotechnology to gain newer insights into various regulatory networks functioning in the seaweeds.
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Seaweed is known as an abundant source of minerals. Mineral composition of seaweed is very changeable because of many exogenous and endogenous factors and differs also within the same species. Principally, seaweed is an excellent source of some essential elements. Mainly, iron and iodine are in high concentration. Seaweeds could be prospective as functional foods and also producers of mineral nutraceuticals.
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A site in the western part of Long Island Sound was monitored from January 2000 to May 2002. The littoral was divided into five different zones from the supra-littoral fringe (A) to the infra-littoral fringe (E). The midshore was dominated by Fucus vesiculosus L. and the sublittoral fringe by Chondrus crispus Stackh. There was a significant change in community structure over the years and the predominant change occurred between 2001 and 2002. The alternation in community structure was caused by an increase in abundance of species like Porphyra suborbiculata Kjellm., Porphyra leucosticta Type A and C (Neefus et al. 2000), Ceramium virgatum Roth, and Codium fragile subsp. tomentosoides (van Goor)Silva and a decrease in abundance in Fucus vesiculosus, Blidingia minima (Nägeli ex Kütz.) Kylin and Ulva lactuca L. The changes in community structure coincided with the change in environmental conditions. Air temperature as well as surface seawater temperature (depth <2m) were the most important factors of those analyzed. Temperature seems to be the bottom-up force regulating the community structure.
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Plants interact with the environment by sensing “non-self” molecules calledelicitors derived from pathogens or other sources. These molecules bind to specificreceptors located in the plasma membraneand trigger defense responses leading toprotection against pathogens. In particular,it has been shown that cell wall and storagepolysaccharides from green, brown and red seaweeds (marine macroalgae) correspondingto ulvans, alginates, fucans, laminarin andcarrageenans can trigger defense responses inplants enhancing protection against pathogens. In addition, oligosaccharides obtained bydepolymerization of seaweed polysaccharidesalso induce protection against viral, fungaland bacterial infections in plants. In particular, most seaweed polysaccharides and derivedoligosaccharides trigger an initial oxidative burst at local level and the activation ofsalicylic (SA), jasmonic acid (JA) and/or ethylene signaling pathwaysat systemic level.The activation of these signaling pathways leads to an increased expression of genesencoding: (i) Pathogenesis-Related (PR) proteinswith antifungal and antibacterial activities;(ii) defense enzymes such as pheylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) and lipoxygenase (LOX)which determine accumulation of phenylpropanoid compounds (PPCs)and oxylipins withantiviral, antifugal and antibacterial activities andiii) enzymes involved in synthesis ofterpenes, terpenoidsand/or alkaloids having antimicrobial activities. Thus, seaweedpolysaccharides and their derived oligosaccharides induced the accumulation of proteinsand compounds with antimicrobial activities thatdetermine, at least in part, the enhancedprotection against pathogens in plants.
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The potential areas in India for luxuriant growth of seaweeds are south Tamil Nadu coast, Gujarat coast, Lakshadweep and Andaman Nicobar Islands. The total standing crop of seaweeds from Intertidal and shallow waters of all maritime states and Lakshadweep Islands was estimated as 91339 tons (wet WI.) The quantity of seaweeds growing in deep waters ofTamiJ Nadu was estimated as 75372 tons (wet wt) in an area of 1863 sq km from Dhanushkodi to Kanyakumari. Data were collected every month from 1978 to 1995 from the seaweed landing centres in Tamil Nadu on the quantity of seaweeds exploited from the natural seaweed beds. During this period the quantity of agar yielding seaweeds Gelidiella acerosa, Graci/aria edulis, G. crassa and G. foliifera exploited in a year varied from 248 to 1289 tons (dry wt).; algin yielding seaweeds Sargassum spp and Turbinaria spp from 651 5537 tons (dry wt) and all the above seaweeds from 1177 to 6420 tons (dry wt). Since several years, agar yielding red algae are over exploited in Tamil Nadu. The need for conservat ion of commercially important seaweeds of Tamil Nadu and time - table for their commercial exploitation are given. The harvesting of under exploited and unexploited seaweeds from Tamil Nadu and unexploited seaweeds from other parts of Indian coast are suggested.
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Marine Agronomy Group, CAFNRM, UH-Hilo
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