INTRODUCTION INTO SEAWEED PRODUCTION: CONCEPTS, FARMING AND USES  

Alejandro H. Buschmann*, Carolina Camus, Sandra V. Pereda, María C. Hernández-González, Robinson Altamirano, Karina Villegas, and José L. Kappes
 
Centro i-mar & CeBiB,
Universidad de Los Lagos,
Camino Chinquihue km 6,
Puerto Montt, Chile
abuschma@ulagos.cl
 

Seaweed farming is presently an activity that takes place in oriental countries. Today less than 20 species from 11 genera are cultivated commercially, and only ~6 can be considered as true crop plants as their cultivated biomass exceeds that harvested from nature. However, the interest in starting up seaweed farming activities in the western world exists, and several efforts have been taken in past and recent years. From the initial interest for algae as food and the polysaccharide industry, today there is a renewed interest for algal biomass for other uses such as biofuels, special chemicals and bioremediation, among other uses. Currently, seaweed farming provide over 94% of annual biomass utilized globally.  This paper is an introduction to a special session on algal farming and their applications and will cover conceptual farming aspects starting from the `fertility site´ concept developed by Dr. Maxwell Doty. The challenges that this industry face today, such as genetic breeding, diseases and environmental limitation, will be covered. In addition the economic drivers will be discussed, especially the need for added economic value of the biomass to attract investors. The future of seaweed industry will include the development of high value markets for functional foods, pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, among others products.

The recent history of seaweed farming and processing industry, both cultivar improvement and market development, is necessary components of a seaweed industry based upon the sale of efficacious products. Research has progressed from the understanding of algae basic biology, to the development of selected cultivars. In-sea techniques were developed from this knowledge background to produce commodity biomass to supply a large market with products including foods. Evolution of the seaweed industry into higher valued products will require proper breeding programs, the consistency and quality of the resulting biomass and more controlled culture systems to provide enhanced returns on the investment made to develop these systems. Currently the drive to develop efficacious seaweed products is generally research-driven, but it will require market-pull to achieve a global success.

Acknowledgement: This special session is part of the activities of the Center for Biotechnology and Bioinformatic funded by the Basal program of CONICYT-Chile (FB-001).