Seaweed Farming

• Seaweed farming or Kelp farming is the practice of cultivating and harvesting seaweed.

A farming project that aims to produce 30,000 tonnes of seaweed a year was  launched in September this year, in the Lakshadweep archipelago, off the southwest coast of India.

Commercial Significance of Seaweeds

• Seaweed is full of vitamins, minerals, & fibre.
• Many seaweeds contain anti-inflammatory & anti-microbial agents.
• They are known to process significant medicinal effects.
• Certain seaweeds possess powerful cancer-fighting agents.
• They are effective binding agents (emulsifiers) & are used commercial goods as toothpaste & fruit jelly, & popular softeners (emollients) in organic cosmetics & skin-care products.

Seaweeds

• Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae.
• Seaweed is plant-like organisms, playing a key ecological role in coastal ecosystems.
• Seaweed is the common name for countless species of marine plants & algae that grow in the ocean as well as in rivers, lakes, & other water bodies.
• A seaweed may belong to one of several groups of multi-cellular algae: the red algae, green algae, and brown algae.
• Like plants, they use light to fix atmospheric carbon dissolved in water. Macroalgae are amongst the most powerful carbon-fixing organisms on earth. Their size ranges from a few millimetres up to 50 metres.
• They are macrophytic which means they live in water or moist land surfaces.
• They generally grow in the shallow waters in the tidal zone.
• Some seaweeds are microscopic, such as the phytoplankton that lives suspended in the water column and provides the base for most marine food chains.
• Some are enormous, like the giant kelp that grow in abundant “forests” from their roots at the bottom.
• Most are medium-sized, come in colors of red, green, brown, and black, and randomly wash up on beaches and shorelines just about everywhere.
• Seaweeds exhibit the highest photosynthesis efficiency due to moist conditions.
• They contribute to about 50% of all photosynthesis in the world.

Importance of Sea-weed Farming

• Provide occupation for the coastal people.
• Provide continuous supply of raw material for seaweed-based industry.
• Seaweed farming is eco-friendly.
• It is a major tool to treat coastal pollution in the sea & reduce CO2 in global warming.

Sea-weed Cultivation: Potential in India

• India is among the 12 mega-biodiversity nations in the world.
• India has an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of 2.17 million km2.
• The Indian coastline, with its different coastal ecosystems, supports the luxuriant growth of diverse seaweed populations, having considerable economic importance.
• About 844 seaweed species are reported from India which has a coastline of 7,500 km.
• On the West Coast, especially in Gujarat, abundant resources are present in the intertidal & subtidal regions.

.