Record Production of Gracilaria Edulis in Culture System in Minicoy Lagoon

With a view to find out the feasibility of culturing G. Edulis in Minicoy lagoon, experiments Have been started since 1989 and encouraging results were obtained, with a maximum Production value of 7.1 fold increase over the initial seed material introduced in the coir ropes Or nets in 60 days time. From these results it can be Inferred that the grazing of the crop by fishes as reported previously was mainly responsible for the low production values In the earlier Instances. Neverthless grazing has been observed during this year also is some of the ropes, but this particular culture rope which escaped the attack by fish and other organisms has given an idea about the real culture potential of the seaweed G. Edulis in Minicoy Lagoon. Hence this clearly suggests that attempts at preventing grazing of the crop by fishes and other organisms must be taken up in future in seaweed farming to derive maximum benefits.