Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
potential CO
2
-neutral and renewable energy supply (lit. in Bartsch et al.
2008
;
Roesijadi et al.
2008
; Chung et al.
2011
).
Bioremediation of eutrophic waters has been mentioned above in relation to
aquaculture. It would also work for waters supplied with an excess of nutrients from
other sources. If the resulting quantity of algal biomass was not good enough to be
introduced into a high quality production line, it may still serve as a good feedstock
for biofuels.
22.4 Conclusion
Seaweeds have accompanied human history for about 14,000 years. Seaweed
research from simple observation to organized experiments has helped to install
an extensive aquaculture industry that produced close to 14.8 million tons in 2009,
while it was just a few kg in the 1950s. Large and many small enterprises worldwide
secure thousands of family incomes and are therefore of high socioeconomic
importance. The global “hot spot” of seaweed farming as well as direct use of
these macroalgae as food items is Asia. Algal ingredients like the phycocolloids
agar, alginate, and carrageenan are in demand by the food industry, medical, and
technical applications. The use of seaweed meal or extracts for agricultural
applications bears a great potential for expansion. To satisfy the market demand
not only for seaweeds but also highly requested protein sources like finfish,
shellfish, and crustacea, the relocation of culturing sites to offshore areas is
suggested for wind farms at sea as a multiuse concept. Another promising and
intensively developing field of aquaculture is the expansion of Integrated Multi-
Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) systems where commercially valuable organisms
from different trophic levels, some fed and some extractive, are combined in a
culturing system, ideally sustaining each other and with the help of seaweeds even
bioremedial for the environment.
References
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Bird CJ,
McLachlan J & Oliveira EC: Productivity and physiological performance. Aquaculture
293:211-220
Abreu MH, Pereira R, Yarish C, Buschmann AH, Sousa-Pinto I (2011) IMTA with
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