Hand book on Farming of Gracilaria dura

In recent times, marine macroalgae (commonly known as seaweeds) drawing considerable attention globally as a renewable feed stock for various industrial applications. Commercial harvesting of seaweeds has reached new milestone with 27 million tones year-1 production (95% accounts to farming) with a market value of over US$ 4.8 billion (FAO, 2016). CSIR-Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute has been actively pursuing the seaweed research for nearly half a century. This institute takes pride in being first for pioneering seaweed cultivation, heralding an era of commercial seaweed farming in India. The production of Kappaphycus alvarezii has been substantially increased from 21 dry tonnes in 2001 to 1490 dry tonnes in 2013 with concomitant purchase value of < ₹ 4.5 to 35 ₹ kg−1 (dry). However, Indian seaweed industry is still depending on natural harvest for agrophytes specifically species of Gracilaria, Gelidium and Gelidiella. The continuous harvesting of natural stocks has been a growing concern for the long-term sustainability of the resource. In order to mitigate the over exploitation pressure on natural stocks, CSIR-CSMCRI developed sustainable cultivation methods of some of these species. Recently, Gracilaria dura from Indian waters has been reported to yield quality agarose as high as 20-25% on dry wt. basis with a gelling temperature 350C and gel strength of 1% gel > 1900 g. cm-2 this has attracted industrial attention. The fast expanding biotechnology and pharmaceutical sector in India is registering steady demand for agar, underpinning the need to initiate large scale farming of this alga. Thus successful aquaculture practise has been developed for ascertaining a continuous and reliable supply of quality raw material giving impetus to commercial operations especially in Gujarat coast – of which this alga is native. Among the hydrocolloids, agar is the second most prized product after agarose. According to a recent report, the wholesale price of agar has sharply increased to an all time high of USD 35-45 per kg due to scarcity of raw materials in response to resent regulations imposed by Moroccan government on natural harvest. The ongoing global supply chain crisis of agarophytes can be capitalized by India by spear heading the farming activity. This provides a scope and immense opportunity for India to emerge as a global producer as well as exporter of agarophytes. CSIR-CSMCRI in association with National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB), Hyderabad is trying to promote young fishermen as an entrepreneur from coastal villages across the country through successfully organizing trainings. The large-scale farming of this alga needs to be further strengthened and promoted by looking at potential socio-economic implication it offers for the inclusive economic growth in rural coastal settings. It would also help in the realization of the goal of doubling farmers' income by the year 2022. I sincerely believe that this manual will help new participants to practice seaweed cultivation more effectively. On behalf of CSIR and our Institute, I convey our best wishes for the successful implementation of the project.