Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
tradition and can be traced back to the fourth century in Japan and the sixth century
in China (Tseng
1987
; Mc Hugh
2003
). Exclusively wild seaweed was used, which
limited it as a food source up to the Middle Ages. Later, during the Shogun regime
in the Tokugawa Era (1600-1800
AD
) fishermen constructed artificial substrates for
fish farming which also allowed various seaweed species to grow upon. Ever since,
seaweeds have been cultivated in the sea (Tamura
1966
). Increasing demand over
the last 50 years has outstripped the ability to supply the required biomass from
natural (wild) stocks which triggered a dramatic growth of seaweed production
from aquaculture sources.
Following Bartsch et al. (
2008
) farmed seaweeds are used for various
applications, as food as well as in the textile, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and
biotechnological industry. As a source of food for human consumption seaweeds
can be used in different forms - for instance in salads, sushi recipes, or as various
food additives. Other purposes are the use on the health market advertising its
minerals and enzymes. Industrial macroalgal use includes the extraction of
phycocolloids and biochemicals (Sahoo and Yarish
2005
; Pereira and Yarish
2008
). A wide range of potential utilizations of seaweeds and/or algal compounds
are referred to in Sect.
22.3
.
The accessibility and reliability of data on “aquatic plants” (FAO classification)
concerning collection from the wild as well as aquaculture production is still not
sufficiently consolidated and spread. Acknowledging the shortcomings the Food
and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) has continually
improved its assessment of the available sources of information, evaluated and
updated them, and with addition of some educated estimates published annual
statistics that may well serve as a useful guide to world seaweed production and
marketing. The latest report by the FAO on “The State of World Fisheries and
Aquaculture 2010” contains data up to 2008 (FAO
2010a
). Including the latest
available data from 2009 (FAO
2011b
), we can show the state and development of
this industry up to that year and present the new numbers adjusted by the FAO for
the period 1997-2005 (Fig.
22.1
) after China revised its production statistics based
on its Second National Agricultural Census 2007 (FAO 2010-2011). Since China
by far runs the most intensive aquaculture business worldwide, numbers on global
aquaculture production had to be decreased by about 8% (FAO
2011b
).
22.1.2 Aquaculture Production of Seaweeds
Farm production of “aquatic plants” has permanently been expanded since 1970
with an average annual growth rate of 7.7%. It is overwhelmingly dominated by
macroalgae (seaweeds) while cultivation of microalgae on a large commercial scale
is still in its infancy.
