The seaweed hydrocolloid industry: 2016 updates,requirements, and outlook

The seaweed hydrocolloid industry, comprising agar, alginate, and carrageenan extracts, continues to grow in the order of 2–3% per year with the Asia-Pacific region increasingly dominating the raw material and manufacturing aspects of the industry. Geographic overviews, also in a historical perspective, of seaweed raw material availability including prices and consumption, manufacturing capacities, and utilizations and sales of extracts is presented. Some current and future industry dynamics, requirements, and changing structures, e.g., Indonesia’s increasingly dominant role within farming of agar and carrageenan-bearing seaweed species, randomly imposing of seaweed harvest restrictions or ban on exports, creation of a global certification standard for seaweed, and supply-demand dynamics for seaweed versus future global population are presented. The industry is increasingly being commoditized and China has become an important and, in many cases, dominant factor within all types of seaweed hydrocolloids and some explanations to this and strategic response by the rest of the industry is also touched upon. Also presented are some areas where the seaweed industry needs help from the scientific community. The main challenge is the ongoing general seaweed deterioration experienced in cultivated species—how are the strains to be improved and revitalized and can cultivation techniques be improved further? There is a general trend towards sustainability and, although seaweed cultivation and harvest can be sustainable, there is interest in the development of greener processes.     

Effects of pre-freezing blanching procedures on the physicochemical properties and microbial quality of frozen sugar kelp

Journal of Applied Phycology - Global demand for seaweed is increasing, resulting in the rapid growth of the seaweed industry. To sustain and enhance the industry (seaweed growers and processors),...     

Prospects and challenges for industrial production of seaweed bioactives

Large‐scale seaweed cultivation has been instrumental in globalizing the seaweed industry since the 1950s. The domestication of seaweed cultivars (begun in the 1940s) ended the reliance on natural cycles of raw material availability for some species, with efforts driven by consumer demands that far exceeded the available supplies. Currently, seaweed cultivation is unrivaled in mariculture with 94% of annual seaweed biomass utilized globally being derived from cultivated sources. In the last decade, research has confirmed seaweeds as rich sources of potentially valuable, health‐promoting compounds. Most existing seaweed cultivars and current cultivation techniques have been developed for producing commoditized biomass, and may not necessarily be optimized for the production of valuable bioactive compounds. The future of the seaweed industry will include the development of high value markets for functional foods, cosmeceuticals, nutraceuticals, and pharmaceuticals. Entry into these markets will require a level of standardization, efficacy, and traceability that has not previously been demanded of seaweed products. Both internal concentrations and composition of bioactive compounds can fluctuate seasonally, geographically, bathymetrically, and according to genetic variability even within individual species, especially where life history stages can be important. History shows that successful expansion of seaweed products into new markets requires the cultivation of domesticated seaweed cultivars. Demands of an evolving new industry based upon efficacy and standardization will require the selection of improved cultivars, the domestication of new species, and a refinement of existing cultivation techniques to improve quality control and traceability of products.     

The First International Seaweed Symposium held in Edinburgh,UK, 1952: applied seaweed science coming of age

Since the first commercial and systematic use of large brown algae for potash in the eighteenth century, chemists have applied their knowledge to benefit the industrial utilization of seaweeds. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the focus of seaweed chemistry started to shift from the inorganic to the organic content. Trailing the chemists, seaweed botanists also became directly involved in the industrial efforts by surveying and assessing seaweed populations. In the 1930s, a modern seaweed industry emerged, based on seaweed polysaccharides and seaweed meal. Prior to World War II seaweed botanists, chemists and industrialists had no regular, joint international arena.The First International Seaweed Symposium (ISS) was held in Edinburgh, 14–17 July 1952. It was referred to as the follow-up of the limited: “Conference on utilization of seaweeds” which was held in Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1948. A main driving force was the Canadian war effort to extract substitute gelling materials from local seaweeds for use in the foodstuff industry. The conference in Halifax was rooted both in the annual Canadian “Irish Moss meetings” in Ottawa 1944–1947 and in the post-WWII expansion of regional laboratories of the National Research Council of Canada. The First ISS was attended by approximately 160 scientists from 21 countries. The symposium demonstrated the role and secured the position of this new applied, multi-disciplinary seaweed science.     

Seaweed micropropagation techniques and their potentials: an overview

The seaweed industry worldwide uses 7.5–8.0 million tonnes of wet seaweeds annually with a majority of it derived from cultivated farms, as the demand for seaweed based-products exceeds the supply of seaweed raw material from natural stocks. The main advantage of cultivation is that it not only obviates overexploitation of natural populations but also facilitates the selection of germplasm with desired traits. To enhance the economic prospects of seaweed cultivation, varied practices, such as simple and cost effective cultivation methods, use of select germplasm as seed stock coupled with good farm management practices, etc., are adopted. Nevertheless, in vitro cell culture techniques have also been employed as they facilitate development and propagation of genotypes of commercial importance. There are more than 85 species of seaweeds for which tissue culture aspects have been reported. Although the initial aim of these techniques focuses mostly on genetic improvement and clonal propagation of seaweeds for mariculture, recently the scope of these techniques has been extended for use in bioprocess technology for production of high value chemicals of immense importance in the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical sectors. Recently, there has been a phenomenal interest in intensifying seaweed tissue and cell culture research to maximize the add-on value of seaweed resources. This paper deals with the status of seaweed micropropagation techniques and their applications in the context of the marine biotech industry. Further, it also provides an analysis of the problems to be resolved for removing the barriers that are impeding the true realization of potentials offered by these techniques for sustainable development and utilization of seaweed resources.     

Global unbalance in seaweed production,research effort and biotechnology markets

Exploitation of the world's oceans is rapidly growing as evidenced by a booming patent market of marine products including seaweed, a resource that is easily accessible without sophisticated bioprospecting technology and that has a high level of domestication globally. The investment in research effort on seaweed aquaculture has recently been identified to be the main force for the development of a biotechnology market of seaweed-derived products and is a more important driver than the capacity of seaweed production. Here, we examined seaweed patent registrations between 1980 and 2009 to assess the growth rate of seaweed biotechnology, its geographic distribution and the types of applications patented. We compare this growth with scientific investment in seaweed aquaculture and with the market of seaweed production. We found that both the seaweed patenting market and the rate of scientific publications are rapidly growing (11% and 16.8% per year respectively) since 1990. The patent market is highly geographically skewed (95% of all registrations belonging to ten countries and the top two holding 65% of the total) compared to the distribution of scientific output among countries (60% of all scientific publications belonging to ten countries and the top two countries holding a 21%), but more homogeneously distributed than the production market (with a 99.8% belonging to the top ten countries, and a 71% to the top two). Food industry was the dominant application for both the patent registrations (37.7%) and the scientific publications (21%) followed in both cases by agriculture and aquaculture applications. This result is consistent with the seaweed taxa most represented. Kelp, which was the target taxa for 47% of the patent registrations, is a traditional ingredient in Asian food and Gracilaria and Ulva, which were the focus of 15% and 13% of the scientific publications respectively, that are also used in more sophisticated applications such as cosmetics, chemical industry or bioremediation. Our analyses indicate a recent interest of non-seaweed producing countries to play a part in the seaweed patenting market focusing on more sophisticated products, while developing countries still have a limited share in this booming market. We suggest that this trend could be reverted by promoting partnerships for R and D to connect on-going efforts in aquaculture production with the emerging opportunities for new biotech applications of seaweed products.     

European bioconversion projects and realizations for macroalgal biomass : Saint-Cast-Le-Guildo (France) experiment

Proliferation of macroalgae is a world-wide problem with 50,000 m³ of drift Ulva harvested per year in Brittany and about 1.0 to 1.2 million tons growing in the Venice lagoon. This biomass may be treated by bioconversion (aerobic or anaerobic fermentation) to give useful products (gas, fertilizers or others) and to remove a source of environmental pollution. Such a treatment also may be applied to cultivated or harvested seaweds and to seaweed industry residues.Studies of seaweed methanization showed Laminaria an especially good substrate and Ulva a possible substrate. Research led to a defined way of treating drift algae, encompassing natural hydrolysis and pressing with methanization of the juices.The most advanced full-scale realization for algal biomass utilization is the C.A.T.-Quatre-Vaulx composting plant in Saint-Cast-Le-Guildo (Brittany, France). It produced from seaweed, wood and animal dung a biological quality compost that is competitive with the traditional market products.     

Phycological research in the development of the Chinese seaweed industry

The term seaweed industry is employed in a broad sense and includes production both of commercial seaweeds such as Laminaria and Porphyra by phycoculture and of processed seaweed products, such as algin, agar and carrageenan.Before the founding of the People's Republic, China had a very insignificant seaweed industry, producing small quantities of the purple laver Porphyra and the glueweed Gloiopeltis by the primitive rock-cleaning method and the kelps Laminaria and Undaria by the primitive stone-throwing method, both aiming at enhancing the growth of the wild seaweeds. Also, a small quantity of agar was manufactured by the traditional Japanese method of gelling, freezing, thawing and drying the product. The small production was not sufficient to meet the demand of the Chinese people who for ages have appreciated seaweeds and their products for food. Therefore, large quantities of seaweeds and seaweed products had to be imported from various countries, for instance, Eucheuma and Gracilaria from Indonesia and other southeastern Asian countries, Laminaria and agar from Japan, even Porphyra from the USA. Annual Laminaria import from Japan generally amounted to over 10 000 tons and in some years approached 20 000–30 000 tons. Some quantities of the glueweed Gloiopeltis and the vermifuge weed Digenea simplex were exported, mainly to Japan.Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in October, 1949, China has exerted efforts to build up a self-supporting seaweed industry. Now after a lapse of 30-some years, a sizable seaweed industry has been developed. China is now able to produce by phycoculture more than one million tons of fresh seaweeds, including Laminaria, Undaria, Porphyra, Eucheuma, Gracilaria etc. and several thousand tons of seaweed extracts, including algin, agar, carrageenan, mannitol and iodine. At present, China still imports some quantities of seaweeds and seaweed products from various countries but is able to produce sufficient quantities to meet the people's need and even to export some quantities of the seaweeds Laminaria, Undaria and Porphyra and the seaweed products algin and mannitol.At the Tenth International Seaweed Symposium, I presented a paper on the Marine Phycoculture of China, in which I emphasized on the methods of cultivation (Tseng 1981b). Therefore I would like to take this opportunity to supplement the last lecture by presenting a paper on the role of phycological research in the development of China's seaweed industry.     

Is a cooperative approach to seaweed farming effectual? An analysis of the seaweed cluster project (SCP), Malaysia

Seaweed (Kappaphycus spp.) farming has been practised in Malaysia since the late 1970s following government policy incentives (training and farming inputs). However, numerous governance, economic, environmental, technological and sociocultural challenges have limited the industry from achieving its full potential. The Seaweed Cluster Project (SCP) was introduced in 2012 to address some of these challenges. We sought to evaluate the effectiveness of the SCP in delivering its central objectives of increasing seaweed production, optimising the farming area, improving seaweed quality and farming efficiency, raising farmers’ income, and reducing the environmental impact of seaweed farming. Community and industry perceptions of the SCP were obtained from seven communities using a mixed-methods approach based on face-to-face semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, household surveys, observation and secondary data. Views on the SCP outcomes were generally negative, including low take-up rates by indigenous people, poor stakeholder participation in decision-making, limited acceptance of new technologies, economic vulnerability, a complex marketing system, and low social cohesion of seaweed farming communities. Positive perceptions included recognition that the SCP confers high social status upon a community, reduces operating costs, and facilitates the production of certified seaweed. The SCP’s problems are linked to poor multi-level governance, weak market mechanisms and unintegrated community development. The study concludes with five recommendations to improve the SCP: promote the participation of indigenous people; legalise existing migrant farmers; strengthen local seaweed cooperative organisations; provide entrepreneurship skills to farmers; and fully integrate stakeholders into decision-making.     

A decade of change in the seaweed hydrocolloids industry

Seaweed hydrocolloid markets continue to grow, but instead of the 3?C5% achieved in the 1980s and 1990s, the growth rate has fallen to 1?C3% per year. This growth has been largely driven by emerging markets in China, Eastern Europe, Brazil, etc. Sales of agar, alginates and carrageenans in the US and Europe are holding up reasonably well in spite of the recession. However, price increases to offset costs in 2008 and 2009 have begun to have a dampening effect on sales, especially in markets where substitution or extension with less expensive ingredients is possible. These higher prices have been driven by higher energy, chemicals and seaweed costs. The higher seaweed costs reflect seaweed shortages, particularly for carrageenan-bearing seaweeds. The Philippines and Indonesia are the dominant producers of the farmed Kappaphycus and Eucheuma species upon which the carrageenan industry depends and both countries are experiencing factors limiting seaweed production. Similar tightening of seaweed supplies are beginning to show up in brown seaweeds used for extracting alginates, and in the red seaweeds for extracting agar. The structure of the industry is also undergoing change. Producers in China are getting stronger, and while they have not yet developed the marketing skills to compete effectively in the developed world markets, they have captured much of their home market. China does not produce the red and brown seaweeds needed for higher end food hydrocolloid production. Stocking their factories with raw material has led to the supply problems. Sales growth continues to suffer from few new product development successes in recent years; although some health care applications are showing some promise, i.e., carrageenan gel capsules and alginate micro-beads.     

Cultivation of red seaweeds: a Latin American perspective

The Latin American seaweed industry plays an important role at a global scale as 17 % of all seaweeds and 37 % of red seaweeds for the phycocolloid industry comes from this region. Increased market demand for algal raw materials has stimulated research and development into new cultivation technologies, particularly in those countries with economically important seaweed industries such as Argentina, Brazil, Chile, México, and Peru. The marine area of Latin America includes almost 59,591 km² of coastline ranging in latitude from 30ºN to 55ºS and encompasses four different oceanic domains: Temperate Northern Pacific, Tropical Eastern Pacific, Temperate South America, and Tropical Atlantic. Commercial cultivation of red seaweed in Latin America has been basically centered in the production of Gracilaria chilensis in Chile. Attempts have been made to establish seaweed commercial cultivation in other countries, going from experimental research-oriented studies to pilot community/enterprise based cultivation trials. Some genera such as Kappaphycus and Eucheuma have been studied in Brazil and Mexico, Gracilaria species in Argentina and Brazil, Gracilariopsis in Peru and Venezuela, and Chondracanthus chamissoi in Peru and Chile. In this short review, we address the Latin America perspective on the status and future progress for the cultivation of red seaweeds and their sustainable commercial development, and discuss on the main common problems. Particular emphasis is given to the needs for comprehensive knowledge necessary for the management and cultivation of some of the most valuable red seaweed resources in Latin America.     

Historical context of commercial exploitation of seaweeds in Brazil

Harvested by coastal populations for centuries, seaweeds have played an important role in the economy of a number of countries. In Brazil, they occur along the coastline, but are more diversified and abundant from the northeast to a portion of the southeast coast. Historically, the seaweed industry in Brazil is based on seaweed harvesting of natural beds. This practice continues to this day in a number of coastal communities in Northeastern Brazil. Since the 1960s, species of the genera Gracilaria and Hypnea have been collected in the intertidal zone for extraction of agar and carrageenan. Maximum production was achieved in 1973–1974, a period in which the country exported around 2000 t annually (dry weight) to Japan. Later (1977–1979), there was a sharp drop and annual exports fell to 250 t (dry weight). In 1981, Brazil exported only 150 t of dried seaweed for agar extraction. Between 1990 and 2000, overexploitation, decline in a number of agarophyte populations, poor quality, low price, and lack of a socioeconomic policy led to the almost total disappearance of this industry in Northeastern Brazil. Seaweed harvesting on natural beds is currently in decline, and the population that depended on this resource had to migrate or convert to other economic activities, such as fishing, aquaculture, and underwater tourism. However, the promising results obtained in pilot projects (Gracilaria and Kappaphycus) show that Brazil has significant potential as a seaweed biomass producer.     

Saldanha Bay,South Africa: recovery of Gracilaria verrucosa (Gracilariales,Rhodophyta)

Since World War II the greater Saldanha Bay lagoon system, South Africa, has been an important Gracilaria producer. Two agar factories, built in the 1960's, used Gracilaria from Saldanha Bay as their raw material. In the early 1970's the industry was destroyed as a result of dredging and marine construction operations to establish a harbor in the bay for loading ore. These environmental changes destroyed stocks and prevented the previously significant beachings of the seaweed from occurring. After a few years of no or very low commercial production, the resource slowly started to recover. The size of Gracilaria drifts increased over the following eight years to approximately one-third of the original output. This trend seems to continue. Although the stocks and resultant drifts are unlikely to recover fully to their original quantity, current production is already sufficient to ensure re-establishment of a seaweed industry in Saldanha Bay. This could have considerable socio-economic impact on the area.     

Potential products from the highly diverse and endemic macroalgae of Southern Australia and pathways for their sustainable production

Macroalgae provide a substantial and renewable resource that can be sustainably utilized for economic and social benefit. A US$7 billion global industry already exists for macroalgae, but the huge majority of this is based on the production of species belonging to approximately six genera, within eight countries, for the manufacture of foods, industrial biomaterials and agricultural products. However, seaweed-derived functional products spanning numerous chemical classes have been identified with valuable therapeutic and industrial applications. This review focuses on the breadth of valuable bioproducts that could be produced from the seaweeds of Southern Australia—a hotspot for seaweed diversity, and the pathways available for their sustainable commercial production. This region contains among the highest level of recorded macroalgal diversity and endemism in the world, with approximately 1,200 described species, of which 62 % are considered endemic. Whilst a number of these species have been shown to be rich sources of higher-value functional products, and most of them still await exploration in this field, the seaweed industry of Southern Australia is largely limited to the harvest of beach-cast biomass for the manufacture of lower-value commodities such as fertilizer and animal feed. There is potential for the development of a substantial industry based on human functional products from seaweeds in Southern Australia. However, a number of challenges and knowledge gaps—including environmental, technological, agronomic, political, and cultural factors—are identified in this review, which must be addressed before sustainable expansion can be achieved. Furthermore, numerous strategic approaches and areas of suggested foci are underscored for research bodies and industry alike. Particular emphasis is given to the need for comprehensive surveying and bioprospecting of the resource; a focus on advanced downstream processing capabilities for improving production efficiency and enhancing product value; the use of biorefinery approaches to improve utilisation efficiency; and pursuing means of improving the sustainability of supply chains.     

日粮添加海藻粉和抗菌肽对海兰褐蛋鸡产蛋性能的影响

采用4×2（海藻粉×抗菌肽）完全随机试验设计,研究日粮添加不同水平的海藻粉（0．0％、1．0％、3．0％、5．0％）和抗菌肽（300 mg/kg、600 mg/kg）对蛋鸡不同产蛋期（24～27周龄和28～31周龄）产蛋性能的影响。结果表明：（1）日粮海藻粉的添加水平显著提高了产蛋率和料蛋比（P＜0．05）。（2）抗菌肽添加水平在28～31周龄显著提高了产蛋率（P＜0．05）。（3）海藻粉和抗菌肽互作效应显著提高了产蛋率和料蛋比（P＜0．05）。结果提示,海藻粉和抗菌肽对蛋鸡产蛋性能的影响存在互作效应,以海藻粉5％、抗菌肽300 mg/kg水平组合最为理想。     

Transforming kelp into a marine bioreactor

The past decade has seen the genetic engineering of various types of seaweed. To date, genetic transformation studies have been carried out in several seaweeds, including the red seaweeds Porphyra, Gracilaria, Grateloupia, Kappaphycus and Ceramium and the green seaweed Ulva. A genetic transformation model system has been established in the most commonly cultivated seaweed, the brown seaweed Laminaria japonica (kelp), based on the transfer of technology used in land plant transformation and also by modulating the seaweed life cycle. This model showed the potential for application of transgenic kelp to the production of valuable products and an indoor cultivation system for transgenic kelp was proposed, taking into account necessary factors for bio-safety. In this review, the establishment at use of the kelp transformation model is introduced, highlighting the potential for transforming kelp into a marine bioreactor.     

The seaweed holobiont: from microecology to biotechnological applications

In the ocean, seaweed and microorganisms have coexisted since the earliest stages of evolution and formed an inextricable relationship. Recently, seaweed has attracted extensive attention worldwide for ecological and industrial purposes, but the function of its closely related microbes is often ignored. Microbes play an indispensable role in different stages of seaweed growth, development and maturity. A very diverse group of seaweed-associated microbes have important functions and are dynamically reconstructed as the marine environment fluctuates, forming an inseparable ‘holobiont’ with their host. To further understand the function and significance of holobionts, this review first reports on recent advances in revealing seaweed-associated microbe spatial and temporal distribution. Then, this review discusses the microbe and seaweed interactions and their ecological significance, and summarizes the current applications of the seaweed–microbe relationship in various environmental and biological technologies. Sustainable industries based on seaweed holobionts could become an integral part of the future bioeconomy because they can provide more resource-efficient food, high-value chemicals and medical materials. Moreover, holobionts may provide a new approach to marine environment restoration.     

Stable isotope evidence (δ13C, δ18O) for winter feeding on seaweed by Neolithic sheep of Scotland

The antiquity of the use of seaweed to feed domestic animals was investigated through carbon ( δ ¹³C) and oxygen ( δ ¹⁸O) isotope analysis of tooth enamel bioapatite. The analysis was performed on sheep and cattle teeth from two Neolithic sites in Orkney (Scotland). At the Knap of Howar, c . 3600 bc , carbon isotopes reflect grazing on terrestrial plants throughout the year for both sheep and cattle, with no contribution of seaweed to their diet. At the Holm of Papa Westray North (HPWN), c . 3000 bc , significant contribution of seaweed to the sheep diet during winter is indicated by bioapatite δ ¹³C values as high as −5.7‰, far outside of the range of values expected for the feeding on terrestrial C₃ plants, and δ ¹⁸O values higher than expected during winter, possibly caused by ingestion of oceanic water with seaweed. Ingestion of seaweed by sheep at HPWN might have been necessitated by severe reduction of pastures during winter. Results suggest that sheep ingested fresh seaweed rather than dry fodder, perhaps directly on the shore as sheep do nowadays on North Ronaldsay. A significant difference between the two populations is the exclusive reliance on seaweed by the North Ronaldsay sheep, which have developed physiological adaptations to this diet. Contribution of seaweed to the sheep winter diet at HPWN might have been a first step towards this adaptation.     

Biochemical characteristics of cellulose and a green alga degradation by Gilvimarinus japonicas 12-2T,and its application potential for seaweed saccharification

ABSTRACT

Cellulose is one of the major constituents of seaweeds, but reports of mechanisms in microbial seaweed degradation in marine environment are limited, in contrast to the multitude of reports for lignocellulose degradation in terrestrial environment. We studied the biochemical characteristics for marine cellulolytic bacterium Gilvimarinus japonicas 12-2^T in seaweed degradation. The bacterial strain was found to degrade green and red algae, but not brown algae. It was shown that the bacterial strain employs various polysaccharide hydrolases (endocellulase, agarase, carrageenanase, xylanase, and laminarinase) to degrade seaweed polysaccharides. Electrophoretic analysis and peptide sequencing showed that the major protein bands on the electrophoresis gel were homologous to known glucanases and glycoside hydrolases. A seaweed hydrolysate harvested from the bacterial culture was found useful as a substrate for yeasts to produce ethanol. These findings will provide insights into possible seaweed decomposition mechanisms of Gilvimarinus, and its biotechnological potential for ethanol production from inedible seaweeds.     

Asymmetrical costs of sexual conflict in the seaweed fly, Coelopa frigida

Abstract.  1. Sexual conflict can play an important role in the evolution of animal life-history characteristics, including lifespan. Seaweed flies show an increase in mortality rates when exposed to brown algae. The seaweed stimulates females to oviposit and males to mount females. Females typically respond to male mounts by performing a violent rejection response.
2. Here the contribution of sexual conflict to the increase in mortality seen in the presence of seaweed was determined. The survival of single and mixed sex pairs of flies was followed in the presence and absence of seaweed.
3. The two sexes showed differential survival rates, with females living longer in the absence of seaweed. The presence of seaweed reduced survival in both sexes. In the presence of seaweed, female survival was lower when paired with a male. Over 40% of the reduction in survival in females in the presence of seaweed appears to be attributable to sexual conflict.
4. The presence of a female did not significantly affect male survival. Thus the mortality cost of being in the presence of the opposite sex and seaweed appears highly asymmetric.
5. In the presence of seaweed, female survival was lower when females were paired with small males. Small males exhibit higher levels of harassment of females, thus it is argued that pre-copulatory sexual conflict is the probable cause of the increased mortality cost to females of being in the presence of both males and seaweed.