Seaweed Farming

By abhimanyu adhikary
General overview of Seaweed

 There are about 900 species of green seaweed, 4000 red species and 1500
brown species found in nature.
 The greatest variety of red seaweeds is found in subtropical and tropical
waters.
 Brown seaweeds are more common in cooler, temperate waters.
Phaeo- = Brown ; Rhodo- = Red ; chloro- =green
Economic importance

 Some 221 species of seaweed are utilized commercially.

 About 145 species are used for food and 110 species for phycocolloid
production.
phycocollloids

 The cell walls of many seaweeds contain phycocolloids (algal colloids) that
can be extracted by hot water.
 The three major phycocolloids are alginates, agars, and carrageenans.
 Alginates are extracted primarily from brown seaweeds.
 Agar and carrageenan are extracted from red seaweeds.
 These phycocolloids are polymers of chemically modified sugar molecules,
such as galactose in agars and carrageenans, or organic acids, such as
mannuronic acid and glucuronic acid in alginates.
Uses of alginates

 Commercially extracted from brown seaweeds, such as Macrocystis,

Laminaria, and Ascophyllum, are used in ice creams to limit ice crystal
formation (producing a smooth texture), in syrups as emulsifiers and
thickeners, and in candy bars and salad dressings as fillers.
 Algin yielding brown algae such as Sargassum and Turbinaria are collected
seasonally from August to January on Southern coast.
Uses of agar

 Agars, extracted primarily from species of red algae, such as Gelidium,

Gracilaria, Pterocladia, Acanthopeltis, and Ahnfeltia, are used in instant pie
fillings, canned meats or fish, and bakery icings and for clarifying beer and
wine. Agar is also used extensively in laboratory research as a substrate for
growing bacteria, fungi, and algae in pure cultures and as a substrate for
eukaryotic cell culture and tissue culture.
 Agar yielding red seaweeds are collected throughout the year in India.
Uses of carrageen

 Carrageenans are extracted from various red algae, including Eucheuma in

the Philippines, Chondrus (also called Irish moss) in the United States and the
Canadian Maritime Provinces, and Iridaea in Chile. Carrageenans are used for
thickening and stabilizing dairy products, imitation creams, puddings, syrups,
and canned pet foods and are used in the manufacture of shampoos,
cosmetics, and medicines.
Availability of seaweed in india

 Seaweeds grow abundantly along the Tamil Nadu and Gujarat coasts and
around Lakshadweep and Andaman and Nicobar islands. There are also rich
seaweed beds around Mumbai, Ratnagiri, Goa, Karwar, Varkala, Vizhinjam and
Pulicat in Tamil Nadu and Chilka in Orissa.
 Out of approximately 700 species of marine algae found in both inter-tidal
and deep water regions of the Indian coast, nearly 60 species are
commercially important.
Reason for unavailability of seaweed in
eastern coast: pollution pooling.
India’s marine production in comparison to
other countries
Methods of Seaweed Farming

 1. Single Rope Floating Raft method (Coir Rope & Nylon Rope).
 2. Fixed Bottom long line method /Bottom Monoline method(Coir Rope &
Nylon Rope).
 Off-bottom (post and line)
 3.Integrated Multi Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) method.
Single rope floating method

 The first type is the single-rope or hanging-kelp rope raft, which uses a large
diameter rope about 60 m long that is kept floating using glass or plastic
buoys fixed every 2-3 m. Each end of the rope is anchored to a wooden peg
driven into the sea bottom. Hanging down from this rope at 50 cm intervals
are the ropes with the young sporophytes attached. Each rope is from 1 to 2
m long and with a bag of stones on the end to weigh it down . The floating
ropes are laid out in the sea about 10 m apart, to allow the passage of a small
boat between the ropes.
double-raft or horizontal-line raft

 A modification of the previously mentioned single raft method.

 Here three long ropes with floats attached are laid out parallel, about 5 m
apart. The short ropes holding the young sporophytes are tied across two
ropes so that the sporophyte ropes are more or less horizontal . This
arrangement means each sporophyte has about equal access to light, whereas
with the vertical lines, the plants on the deeper end get less light and do not
grow as well as those at the top end, a problem that can be overcome by
reversing the rope halfway through the growing season.
 The horizontal-line raft is more resistant to water movement and therefore
has less access to nutrients. Generally, the single-rope raft method is better,
especially in clear water, and it has the advantage that the depth at which
the plant is growing can be easily adjusted. If the water is turbid, the double
raft method is used.
Off-bottom (post and line)

 The general approach is to suspend a series of lines of 10m in length between

two posts, which are usually made of wood. This technique is best suited for
lagoons, where there is relatively shallow water at low tide and for small-
scale initiatives. The lines are regularly checked and the seaweed harvested
during the two spring tide periods each month, at which time the farmers can
work on foot, and is therefore a technique particularly suited to women
farmers. Following each harvest, the seaweed is dried on land for a few days
before sale.
imta

 Integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) provides the byproducts,

including waste, from one aquatic species as inputs (fertilizers, food) for
another. Farmers combine fed aquaculture (e.g., fish, shrimp) with inorganic
extractive (e.g., seaweed) and organic extractive (e.g., shellfish) aquaculture
to create balanced systems for environment remediation (biomitigation),
economic stability (improved output, lower cost, product diversification and
risk reduction) and social acceptability (better management practices).
 Ideally, the co-cultured species each yield valuable commercial "crops". IMTA
can synergistically increase total output, even if some of the crops yield less
than they would, short-term, in a monoculture.
 IMTA promotes economic and environmental sustainability by converting
byproducts and uneaten feed from fed organisms into harvestable crops,
thereby reducing eutrophication, and increasing economic diversification.
Water Current flows from left to right in IMTA
fisheries
 Limiting factors in seaweed farming

 Disease Ice Ice

 Water Temperature
 Prolonged exposure of seaweed to the air
 Salinity
 Algal Parasites
 Turbidity
 Storms and Cyclones
 Grazing of Seaweed (by herbivorous fish, sea urchins and marine turtles).
 The Battle to Buy: Investors versus illicit buyers
 Investors lacking in competence
 Nitrogen levels
Ice-Ice disease

 Ice Ice develops as a result of stresses on the seaweed and these stresses are
described in more detail in the following sections. The tell-tale signs of the
disease is that the thalli (or frond) degenerate, turn a pale white color similar
to ice (hence the name of the disease) and eventually rot. It is a clear sign
that seaweed is not healthy and it eventually literally falls apart with the
consequential loss of a production cycle in a matter of a few days. Perhaps
more serious is the loss of the supply of cuttings for the following production
cycle.
Water temperature

 Sea-water temperature is also a limiting factor on growth, and should ideally

be between 20° et 32°C, while a sudden change in temperature (even it f it
remains within the ideal range) can also have a negative effect on seaweed
growth.
Exposure to air

 Exposure of seaweed to the air can have a chronic effect on growth rates,
even if it doesn’t necessarily result in the full-blown development of Ice-Ice.
This problem is associated with farmers who systematically take new cuttings
only when the harvest has been brought ashore for cleaning and drying,
rather than taking cuttings in situ. A farmer can lose the equivalent weight of
one or two individual harvests per year, perhaps without even realizing it,
because the harvest cycle can be 1-12 days longer than what it should ideally
be.
 Porphyra thalli are tolerant to desiccation; for example, P. haitanensis can
survive for one week even though losing 70 percent of its moisture.
salinity

 Salinity is also a limiting factor on seaweed growth, particularly if it drops

rapidly. Such a rapid drop in salinity would usually occur as a result of heavy
rains in adjacent river catchment areas. Overall it is necessary to avoid sites
where salinity is outside of the range of 23-38 grams/litre (ppm); the average
salinity in the western Indian Ocean is 35-36ppm. Freshwater is more buoyant
than seawater and one solution to the risk of freshwater influx is to set the
lines at least 1-metre below the sea surface.
Algal parasites

 he infestation of seaweed plots by EFA (or ‘pest’ seaweed)is recurrent but

often seasonal. It can bring on amassiveIce Ice event, where some or even
allof the production can be lost. And farmers may then be left without stock
suitable for cuttings and are therefore obliged to spend one harvest cycle for
no other reason than to replace this stock. It is likely, due to pest seaweed,
that two of the normal eight harvests per year will be lost.
 The six most damaging parasitic algal are the following:- Macro-algae:
Enteromorpha, Ulva, Chaetomorpha, piphyticFilamentousAlgae (EFA), Hypnea
and Hydroclathus
 This is by far the biggest threat to seaweed culture, and also the most
difficult situation to manage.
How to Limit the Damage by algal
parasites
 Build on past experience;
 Ensure good monitoring of the farm itself, particularly during the seasons where algal
parasites are more common. In fact, the infestation by EFA develops progressively, permitting
time for a response;
 Mobilize the technicians to support the best farmers;- Increase the diversity of the locations
of the seaweed plots;
 Diversify the modes of production. In fact, longlines set deeper in the water column will be
less frequently and less rapidly infested than seaweeds growing off-bottom in the lagoon.
 Ensure a rapid mobilization of the farmers to harvest the seaweed because seaweed
harvested and dried is equivalent to money in the bank and prevents farmers becoming
discouraged;
 Attach only small cuttings (e.g. cuttings of 25-50 g as opposed to the normal 100g) with the
remaining healthy seaweed;
 Establish a back-up nursery in a site that is not contaminated by the infestation;
 Mobilize the farmers to clean the seaweed still in situ on the re-stocked lines
turbidity

 Seaweeds can endure a certain level of turbidity. But they are vulnerable to
high turbidity caused by terrigenous material, that can stick to the thalli and
induce Ice Ice. Farmers need to regularly shake their lines to remove the silty
deposits from the seaweed.
Storms and cyclones

 It is obvious that seaweed farms are vulnerable to bad weather. To minimize

its impact on the farm, it is advised to chose sites that are sheltered
wherever possible. Other than that, it is important to monitor weather
forecasts, and if the forecast is threatening then famers should mobilize and
harvest the available seaweed to avoid any loss, and replace the stock with
smaller cuttings(25g)
Grazing of seaweed

 By far the biggest losses from grazing of the seaweed crop is to herbivorous
fish (often Rabbitfish (Siganidae)) although normallythis is only a seasonal
problem. These fish usually shelter around rocks and coral bommies and
therefore the only mitigation available is to avoid locating seaweed plots
close to such features. The longline technique, which sets lines a few meters
below the surface, is less vulnerable. Grazing represents a real but relatively
minor loss of production to plots of mature seaweed, but nurseries can be
more vulnerable and suffer greater losses.
The Battle to Buy: Investors versus illicit
buyers
 A good example of the intense competition between buyers of seaweed is found on
Zanzibar. Here the investors, who have provided training, materials, drying-tables
and boats, often see their contracted farmers sell the seaweed, for a better price,
to Chinese buyers who themselves have invested nothing. This behavior can lead
directly to the cessation of inputs and support from the investors and a reduction
in overall production. For a government, however, it is not easy to manage a
sector in which the actors have such diverse interests. However, as far as it is
possible, the government should try, in partnership with the stakeholders, to
support the development of coherent sector plans where the interests of all
parties are taken into account, allowing the sector to flourish. A case in point is
Kenya, where a potential investor from Pemba, Zanzibar (already producing 2,000
dry mt/year) had previously suffered from the presence of Chinese buyers. The
investor requested, and was awarded, an exclusive right for five years to buy
seaweed from five or six villages that are piloting seaweed production in
collaboration with an NGO, that was itself financed by a EU-COI program. At the
condition that he follows the beach price of Zanzibar
Investors lacking in competence

 Only 25% of new seaweed farming projects succeeds, and the reasons for this can
sometimes include poor project implementation and management by the investor.
More specifically:
 The operator does not have the financial reserves to sustain the inevitable losses
that usually characterize in the initial three or four years of a seaweed enterprise;
 The operator knows nothing about seaweed farming;- Often the investor is a
relatively small-scale businessman with little previous experience of management
of an SME with a large number of employees;
 Sometimes there can be a lack of mutual understanding with the local population
the investor is seeking to work with;
 There may also be a lack of investment in sufficient numbers of competent
technical staff (one technician per ~30 families may be required);
 An investor may allow the size of the enterprise to expand too quickly and when
that happens accidents and mistakes take place that result in everyone losing
money and becoming discouraged.
Nitrogen levels

 Experiments indicate that 100-200 mg nitrogen/m3 is needed for normal

growth; growth will be inhibited if the nitrogen level is lower than 50 mg
nitrogen/m3.
Good practices in seaweed farming

 Where to find a good site, motivated would-be farmers and how to increase
their capacity to ‘win’ 2% of additional growth per day .
 This 2% additional growth can augment the production of each harvest by up
to 100%;
 This 2% growth is the result of presence (shadow) of the farmers in the
seaweed plots armed with the best practices taught them by the technicians;
 It should not be located near a river mouth so that, a) the salinity stays
between 23 and 38ppm, and b) the turbidity of the water is within reasonable
limits
Problems due to seaweed farming

 Hydrogen evolution evolution

 High mineral and vitamin amount
Hydrogen sulfide evolution

 Hydrogen sulfide, the pungent stuff often referred to as sewer gas, is a deadly
substance. At high concentrations -- levels of 30 to 100 parts per million in
water -- hydrogen sulfide can be lethal to humans. Decomposing sargassum
seaweeds also release ammonia (NH3)– also known as hydrogen nitride
(composed of nitrogen (N) and hydrogen (H2)). Ammonia is a flammable,
explosive and toxic gas even at low concentrations.
 Beyond 50 ppm for NH3 and 100 ppm for H2S, it becomes impossible to
discern these smells. This is called the olfactory fatigue effect.
 In order to avoid this and accurately measure concentrations of these toxic
gases, using a dedicated gas detector is required.
 It is therefore only problematic when it starts rotting in beaches.
High mineral and vitamin content

 Higher nutritional content inhibits seaweed from being a staple food because
even a small amount can have certain minerals or vitamins in excess of daily
recommended intake amounts.
 It can be remedied by reducing those particular minerals or vitamins, or by
integrating them in other food products.
Nutritional benefits of porphyra (nori)
Flowchart of business domains
Comparison of return on investment
Utilization of the top 5 seaweeds in terms of
quantity
General overview of investments and return
for seaweed cultivation
(gracilaria taken as an example)