INFOFISH e-dialogue on Seaweed Diversity and Technology Towards a Sustainable Seaweed Industry

Farmed seaweeds represented 97.1 per cent by volume of the total of 32.4 MMT (Million Metric Ton) of wild-collected and cultivated aquatic algae combined. Seaweed farming is practised in a relatively smaller number of countries, dominated by countries in East and Southeast Asia. The world production of marine macroalgae, or seaweed, has more than tripled, up from 10.6 MMT in 2000 to 32.4 MMT in 2018 (SOFIA 2020).

The significance of seaweed production is extremely important in the region not only from the economic point of view but also for the sustainability of the sector and contributing to achieving SDGs. Among the top 15 aquatic algae producing countries some 11 are from the Asia Pacific Region: China (18.51MMT), Indonesia (9.32MMT), Republic of Korea (1.71MMT), Philippines (1.47MMT), Democratic Republic of Korea (0.55MMT), Japan (0.39MMT), Malaysia (0.17MMT), Vietnam (0.019MMT), Solomon Islands (0.006MMT) and India (0.005 MMT).

The global status of seaweed production, trade, and utilization report (FAO 2018) stated that 85% of the globally produced seaweed comprises food products for human consumption. Seaweed derived extracts (carrageenan, agar-agar and alginates) make up almost 40% of the world’s hydrocolloid market in terms of food; the rest come from certain animals, microbes and land plants.

To address the emerging issues in the Asia pacific Seaweed sector and to keep the industry stakeholders updated on the diversified seaweed products and innovations, the third in series of INFOFISH Webinars on Technological Innovation: e-dialogue on Seaweed ‘Diversity and Technology: Towards a Sustainable Seaweed Industry’ scheduled to take place on 21 April 2021.

Webinar landing page: http://infofish.org/Webinar/index.php...

INFOFISH Official website: http://infofish.org/