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Distribution of seaweed farmers based on their involvement in farming and wild collection of seaweeds
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The commercially important red alga Kappaphycus alvarezii is widely cultivated along Tamil Nadu coast. Apart from farming, wild collection of seaweed is also being practiced by fishers for their livelihoods. The present study on economicsand constraints of farming and wild collection of seaweeds was undertaken in the Ramanathapuram District of Tami...
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Context 1
... is evident from the economic performance analysis that there is a substantial return/profit from farming as well as wild collection of seaweeds. Hence about 20% of the respondents were those who left fishing and switched to farming and wild collection of seaweeds, who continue practicing the same in a sustainable manner (Fig. 5). There is a definite shift in the attitude of fishers towards farming and this trend would definitely help in reducing the fishing pressure in near future. Analysis of economics and constraints of seaweed farming and collection undertaken in Ramanathapuram District of Tamil Nadu coast revealed that seaweed farming is a simple, low cost ...
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Seaweed bio-composite films with different proportion of Lemang and Semantan bamboo microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) were fabricated via solvent casting. The seaweed/MCC composite films were flexible, transparent, and slightly yellow. The MCC particles further enhanced mechanical properties and opacity of films. The thermal stability of seaweed fil...
Citations
... However, overall farmed seaweed production is significantly low compared to several other Asian countries. One of the reasons attributed to low production is that commercial-level seaweed farming is limited to nearshore waters using a few established culture methods such as floating bamboo raft-based mono-line, long line, and some extent, the tube net method (Hurtado et al. 2014;Johnson et al. 2017;Ganesan et al. 2019). Floating bamboo raft and mono-line methods are suitable for calm, and shallow protected seas with minimum tidal influences especially in the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay regions of India; whereas, the tube-net method has been established for farming in shallow, and exposed sea within 0.5 to 4 m water depth, mostly in the northwest coast of India (Bindu 2011;Zuniga-Jara et al. 2015;Mantri et al. 2017;Periyasamy and Rao 2017). ...
... The use of the HDPE raft structure is a novel attempt for holding tube nets in rough sea conditions, and it may act as an alternative suitable system against existing bamboo-based rafts. Otherwise, the life of a commercially designed floating bamboo raft structure is a maximum of 3 years (Bindu 2011;Johnson et al. 2017) and can be quickly damaged due to high wind and wave action in the turbulent sea. Despite several advantages, the shortcomings of the proposed HDPE raft structure are prone to bio-fouling accumulation, which needs regular cleaning; and high initial capital cost over the commercially practiced bamboo raft. ...
... The maximum crop yield for the optimized initial stocking biomass (T2) was 241.11 ± 3.65 kg fr. weight raft -1 , it is comparable with the yield (fresh weight basis) of the commonly practiced farming methods: 229.22 ± 76.37 kg (Selvavinayagam and Dharmar 2017), 250 kg (Johnson et al. 2017) under floating bamboo raft on the southeast coast of India; 236.05 ± 2.36 kg in Maharastra coast (Kavale et al. 2016); 224.5 ± 3.54 kg in the northwest coast of India (Kumar et al. 2016); and 270.20 ± 20.61 kg in tubular net method along Andhra Pradesh coast (Periyasamy and Rao 2017). On the contrary, some of the earlier studies repprted with higher crop yield in different culture methods: 326 ± 49 and 550 ± 41 kg in floating bamboo raft method (Periyasamy et al. 2014), 330 ± 67.26 kg in net-bag method (Selvavinayagam and Dharmar 2017) in the southeast coast of India; 301.15 ± 30.81 kg for net bag method in Andhra Pradesh coast, India (Periyasamy and Rao 2017). ...
Commercial-scale seaweed production in exposed coastal waters has failed due to the absence of appropriate culture methods. In the present study a novel tube-net based seaweed cultivation in floating high-density polyethylene (HDPE) raft structure was developed for exposed and deeper coastal waters. The design prototype was evaluated by culturing Kappaphycus alvarezii, in the northeastern Bay of Bengal Sea, off the Visakhapatnam coast, India, for its structural stability, seaweed culture potential, and economic feasibility. A square-shaped HDPE raft of 3 × 3 m, was tied with ten tube nets of each 3.0 m length and 0.32 m dia, made of HDPE net. A cluster of 25 rafts deployed as a single unit and the entire system was stabilized by a multipoint mooring system. The raft structure with seaweed, along with the anchoring system endured the high waves (1.34 ± 0.08 m) and wind speed (11.5 ± 0.62 km h⁻¹) and had supported for seaweed growth. Four different initial seeding biomasses (3, 5, 7.5, and 10 kg tube-net⁻¹) were assessed for growth in a total of six cycles with a culture duration of 45 days cycle⁻¹. The growth parameters were observed to be significantly higher (p<0.05) at initial seed biomass of 5 kg tube-net⁻¹, with a maximum daily average growth rate (3.52% day⁻¹) and net biomass (191.11 kg raft⁻¹ crop⁻¹). Pearson’s correlation coefficient (r) at 0.05 level showed a significant negative correlation of growth parameters to temperature, and salinity and a positive correlation with phosphate content in the seawater. Annual economic returns of US$ 2061.83 were calculated for a cluster unit with a profit margin of 31.35%. However, this method faces many challenges, including high initial investment, labour involvement, and inclement weather that hampers estimated biomass projection. In spite, the present method of seaweed farming was found suitable for exposed seas up to 10.5 m water depth, and can be adopted in seas with similar dynamics to promote seaweed farming.
... Seaweed farming has been identified as one of the diversifiedlivelihood options for coastal fishers in India. However, enabling factors for significant commercial expansion and holistic development of allied industries are yet to take shape in the country (Johnson et al., 2017. Past studies (Kaladharan et al., 1996;Kaliaperumal and Kalimuthu, 1997;Rao and Mantri, 2006) have identified several commercially important seaweed species, which include red algae species such as Gracilaria edulis, Gelidiella acerosa, and Kappaphycus alvarezii and brown algae species such as Sargassum wightii, Turbinaria conoides, and Cystoseira spp. ...
This study undertakes a comprehensive assessment of selected mariculture enterprises in the coastal regions of India, centered on long-term sustainability as the key focus. This is juxtaposed against India's ambitious blue economy targets and policy thrust that pin on the expansion of mariculture as a promising avenue for enhancing marine fish production. Farm-level, region-specific, techno-economic, and socio-cultural factors associated with, and conditional on, sustainable intensification of mariculture-based production systems are examined in detail. The Principles-Criteria-Indicators (PCI) approach is used to establish the linkage between identified farm-level indicators and various dimensions of sustainability. While the selected enterprises were assessed to be technically and economically viable in general, glaring gaps were evident on key indicators of sustainability such as the legitimacy of access over water bodies, use of quality seed and feed, institutional credit access, market access, and fair marketing practices, optimal stocking density, mechanization, use of renewable energy, adoption of environmental-friendly culture practices, farm surveillance, crew safety, and social protection. This indicates the need for taking proactive measures to ensure the long-term sustainability of mariculture, particularly in the initial stages of establishment when such interventions are easy to adopt. Based on the insights obtained from the analysis, a broad set of strategies, policy options, and institutional interventions critical to scaling-up coastal mariculture enterprises along the east and west coasts of India are presented.
... Similarly, for some, seaweed farming has allowed a reliable income source; creating more consistent quality seaweeds relative to wild collection and safer production in the face of harmful algal blooms compared to fisheries sectors [142]. However in contrast, in some tropical areas, seaweed farming is vulnerable to environmentally-mediated diseases, such as 'ice-ice' and other pests [138] rendering communities with an increased reliance on seaweed farming vulnerable to climate-driven disease burden in the long-term [143,144]. This may be compounded by economic contexts; farmers attached to underdeveloped local markets and inequitable supply chains may struggle to negotiate for higher wages and could become increasingly vulnerable as global commodity prices fluctuate [47, 92,139,145,146]. ...
Seaweed farming is widely expected to transform the way we approach sustainable developments, particularly in the context of the ‘Blue Economy’. However, many claims of the social and ecological benefits from seaweed farming have limited or contextually weak empirical grounding. Here we systematically review relevant publications across four languages to form a comprehensive picture of observed—rather than theorised—social and environmental impacts of seaweed farming globally. We show that, while some impacts such as improved water quality and coastal livelihoods are consistently reported, other promulgated benefits vary across cultivation contexts or are empirically unsubstantiated. For some communities, increasing dependence on seaweed farming may improve or worsen the cultural fabric and their vulnerability to economic and environmental shocks. The empirical evidence for the impacts of seaweed farming is also restricted geographically, mainly to East Asia and South-East Asia, and taxonomically. Seaweed farming holds strong potential to contribute to sustainability objectives, but the social and ecological risks associated with scaling up global production remain only superficially understood. These risks require greater attention to ensure just, equitable, and sustainable seaweed industries can be realised.
... Some more recent cost assessments for both tropical and cool temperate species are listed in Table 1 (We use "temperate" in the remainder of this paper to cool temperate species and seaweed farms). There are other studies that look in detail at small-scale farming of tropical species for the carrageenan market, generally at farm scales far below 1 ha (Fausayan, Muhidin, Sidu, & Arimbawa, 2018;Johnson, Narayanakumar, Abdul Nazar, Kaladharan, & Gopakumar, 2017;Nor, Gray, Caldwell, & Stead, 2020;Valderama, Cai, Hishamunda, & Ridler, 2013). ...
Seaweed farming has the potential to produce feedstocks for many applications, including food, feeds, fertilizers, biostimulants, and biofuels. Seaweeds have advantages over land-based biomass in that they require no freshwater inputs and no allocation of arable land. To date, seaweed farming has not been practiced at scales relevant to meaningful biofuel production. Here we describe a techno-economic model of large-scale seaweed farms and its application to the cultivation of the cool temperate species Saccharina latissima (sugar kelp) and the tropical seaweed Eucheumatopsis isiformis. At farm scales of 1000 ha or more, our model suggests that farm gate production costs in waters up to 200 km from the onshore support base are likely to range between $200 and $300 per dry tonne. The model also suggests that production costs below $100 per dry tonne may be achievable in some settings, which would make these seaweeds economically competitive with land-based biofuel feedstocks. While encouraging, these model results and some assumptions on which they are based require further field validation.
... Their report indicates that around 2000 active men and women are engaged in the collection of wild seaweed. Most of the wild collection has been reported from the Gulf of Mannar region in the Ramanathapuram district (Table 16.5) (Johnson et al. 2017 ). Gelidiella, Gracilaria, Sargassum and Turbinaria are the major seaweeds collected from the wild in this region. ...
The blue economy is an economic arena that depends on the benefits and values realized from the coastal and marine environments. This book explains the ‘sustainable blue economy’ as a marinebased economy that provides social and economic benefits for current and future generations. It restores, protects, and maintains the diversity, productivity, and resilience of marine ecosystems, and is based on clean technologies, renewable energy, and circular material flows
... Their report indicates that around 2000 active men and women are engaged in the collection of wild seaweed. Most of the wild collection has been reported from the Gulf of Mannar region in the Ramanathapuram district (Table 16.5) (Johnson et al. 2017 ). Gelidiella, Gracilaria, Sargassum and Turbinaria are the major seaweeds collected from the wild in this region. ...
Seaweeds are a vital part of coastal ecosystems, which offer indispensable ecosystem services as well as socio-economic value. Seaweeds are a rich source of vitamins, minerals and other bioactive compounds, which have great prospects for use as health supplements. Seaweeds are distributed in complex environmental gradients on a smaller spatial scale. The standing stock of about 844 seaweeds is found to be 58,715 tonnes wet weight in the Indian coast. The commercial seaweeds belong to agarophytes, carrageenophytes, alginophytes and edible seaweeds. Currently, K. alvarezii is the only commercially cultivated species, which accounts for 30%, and the rest are Gracilaria sp, Gelidiella sp and Sargassum sp. These seaweeds are mainly harvested from the naturally occurring coastal areas of Tamil Nadu and Gujarat states. The major seaweed culturing methods that are followed by the farmers in the coastal regions of Tamil Nadu and the other parts of India are (i) the single rope floating raft method, (ii) fixed bottom long line/monoline method, (iii) bamboo raft method and iv) net bag method. In India, there is a strong need to expand coastal seaweed cultivation to an offshore large-scale farming. Currently, the major problems associated with the seaweed industry are overexploitation of raw materials, low quality of stocks and lack of labours. Besides, most seaweeds are prone to epiphytism, and they are colonised by epibionts such as bacteria, protest, algae and invertebrates. High-resolution hydrodynamic modelling should be carried out before and after constructing farming structures for higher productivity. Furthermore, surveys need to be conducted to identify the seaweed cultivation zone to promote livelihood activities in coastal areas, with advanced seaweed mechanized vehicles within large spatial scales to identify proper localities for large-scale seaweed culture.
... Besides agar, market potential for colorants (R-phycoerythrin and R-phycocyanin), minerals, proteins, lipids and cellulose derived from this feedstock also exists (Baghel et al., 2014). Nevertheless, industrial production of this economically lucrative commodity still relies heavily on natural exploitation (Johnson et al. 2017;Sambhwani et al. 2020).The operating cost involved in seaweed collection has doubled between 2012 and 2015 but the net profit has marginally increased (Johnson et al. 2017). The landing of agarophyte taxa has been consequently reduced during the decade 2005-2015 . ...
... Besides agar, market potential for colorants (R-phycoerythrin and R-phycocyanin), minerals, proteins, lipids and cellulose derived from this feedstock also exists (Baghel et al., 2014). Nevertheless, industrial production of this economically lucrative commodity still relies heavily on natural exploitation (Johnson et al. 2017;Sambhwani et al. 2020).The operating cost involved in seaweed collection has doubled between 2012 and 2015 but the net profit has marginally increased (Johnson et al. 2017). The landing of agarophyte taxa has been consequently reduced during the decade 2005-2015 . ...
... It may be noted that prevailing market rate of the biomass of G. dura is 2.2 fold higher than the G. debilis. It may also be noted that there is no substantial change in market selling price in agarophyte seaweeds in India (Johnson et al. 2017). Furthermore, unlike K. alvarezii, where secondary market in the form of plant bio-stimulant from fresh biomass has been developed in last one decade besides carrageenan, no such opportunity exists for agarophyte seaweeds. ...
Mass mortality of Kappaphycus alvarezii in India has severely hindered the employment opportunity of fishermen by diverting them to less-remunerative seaweed collection sector. The depletion of resources due to over-harvesting coupled with ongoing global supply chain crisis offers excellent opportunity to initiate commercial farming of agarophytes. The productivity and financial implications in terms of profitability assessment parameters have not been attempted before for Indian agarophytes. The comparison between four species, namely Gelidiella acerosa, Gracilaria debilis, G. dura and G. edulis under deployment scenarios (1TPD and 5 TPD), revealed G. debilis as productive spices in terms of requirement of rafts (9,000-163,636), area under farming (3.6-65.45 ha) and persons involved (100-1,818). It reported minimum payback period of 0.3 years, breakeven point of 66.56 tons of biomass with and highest internal rate of returns of 237.6% for high range yield scenario. All the agarophytes except G. acerosa registered profit, with maximum (0.46 million USD) reported for G. dura, followed by G. debilis (0.19 million USD) under yield scenario of 5-TPD. Thus, the present investigation confirms that commercial cultivation of G. debilis farming can be viable alternative to the fishermen along the southeastern coast of India due to low skill set and small investment.
... Total 3,700 tons of dried weight seaweeds were harvested off Tamilnadu coast in 2015. [62] ...
Seaweeds belonging to Chlorophyta, Phaeophyta and Rhodophyta are marine macroalgae growing in shallow sea. Seaweeds has been used successfully in various countries for the purpose like food, fodder, bio-fuel and many more. There are various companies which are already in business of seaweed products. India has a large population residing and being dependent on its ocean. Seaweed industry has very high potential for employment generation. The current chapter deals with figuring out scope, cultivation and harvesting practices, industry strategies, marketing schemes by reviewing the applications and utilization of seaweeds across the world. We have discussed some of the challenges and limitations in the Indian contest. During our survey it was revealed that the awareness is required about seaweed and their scope. With this chapter we can conclude that there are various schemes and opportunity to encourage seaweed utilization and cultivation. A special focus is laid on employment generation activities related to seaweed cultivation. We find through our research and review that there is a need of a common portal for all the information and activities to share, collaborate and succeed in seaweed industry.
... The alginate produced by seaweed used as a gelling agent in the food manufacturing to enhance the viscosity of aqueous solution and form the gel that does not melt when heated. It is also used in ice cream and dairy products as a stabilizers, in soft drinks, forth producer in beer, clarifying agent in wines, increase the viscosity of fruit juices, cheese, syrups, chocolate milk, pudding and meat products (García-Sartal et al. 2011;Harrison Fig. 7.4 Seaweed a biorefinery for biobusiness with multifarious products for different industries 2008; Johnson et al. 2017;Peteiro et al. 2014). Agar is the major cell-wall constituent of a group of red seaweeds, namely Gracilaria, Gelidium, Pterocladia and Ahnfeltia out of them Gelidium and Gracilaria are predominant species used in industry (Bixler and Porse 2010). ...
... About 1700 years ago, the earliest written record of the interaction of macroalgae for human usage originated from China . Initially, these marine algae were used for certain domestic purposes (food and feed), but later on, these found their importance in industries (Delaney et al. 2016;Ganesan et al. 2019;Johnson et al. 2017). In the sixteenth century, Chinese herbal producer used brown algae for treatment of goiter, Gelidium for duodenal illnesses and Laminaria stipesis used during childbirth for the dilation of the cervix (Levine ...
Weed is defined as ‘a herbaceous plant not valued for use or beauty, growing wild and rank, and regarded as cumbering the ground or hindering the growth of superior vegetation’ (Zimdahl in Fundamentals of weed science. Academic Press, San Diego, C.A., p. 556 1999). Weeds are those plants which are harmful, interfere with the agricultural operations, increase labor, add input to the cultivation, and reduce the crop yield (Sen in Environment and agriculture: at the crossroad of the new millennium. Ecological Society (ECOS), Kathmandu, Nepal, pp. 223–233 2000). Weeds grow in a variety of ecosystems including pastures, rangelands, and forests.
... The commercial market for seaweeds is predicted to grow at a fast rate, i.e., CAGR of 8.4% from 2018 to 2023, to range up to 21.1 billion USD by the end of 2022 (G. A.A. 2017;CSM 2018). ...
... The alginate produced by seaweed used as a gelling agent in the food manufacturing to enhance the viscosity of aqueous solution and form the gel that does not melt when heated. It is also used in ice cream and dairy products as a stabilizers, in soft drinks, forth producer in beer, clarifying agent in wines, increase the viscosity of fruit juices, cheese, syrups, chocolate milk, pudding and meat products (García-Sartal et al. 2011;Harrison Fig. 7.4 Seaweed a biorefinery for biobusiness with multifarious products for different industries 2008; Johnson et al. 2017;Peteiro et al. 2014). Agar is the major cell-wall constituent of a group of red seaweeds, namely Gracilaria, Gelidium, Pterocladia and Ahnfeltia out of them Gelidium and Gracilaria are predominant species used in industry (Bixler and Porse 2010). ...
Seaweeds or macroalgae, a highly useful and simple type of plants, lack true roots, stems and leaves. Heavy loads on numerous usual resources impose the development of substitute sources to produce significant goods such as food, food additives, feed, fuel, maquillages, and antibiotics. The improvement of large-scale seaweed aquaculture has the prospective to play a significant role in meeting future resource needs. The seaweed is an important character of culture and society. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
