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.

Prospects and challenges for industrial production of seaweed bioactives.

Filamentous red-light grown gametophytes of 47 species of the Laminariales, i e about 50% of all species of the order, were tested for upper survival temperature (UST, 2 wk exposure), and 42 of these species were tested for lower survival temperature (LST, 8 wk exposure) The lowest UST in the order is 19 to 20°C, encountered in the Arctic to cold-temperate species Laminaria solidungula, Alarm esculenta and Agarum cribrosum The warm temperate Japanese species Eisenia bicyclis and Undana pinnatifida have the h ~ g h e s t UST of 28 to 30°C The UST range in the order Laminariales, thus, spans about 10°C This 1s about 5°C less than in the related order Desn~arestiales which spans a range in UST of 15°C The largest within-family vanation in UST is found in the Alanaceae and Laminanaceae, the 2 families with most species and widest distribution The Alariaceae span a range in UST of 1O0C, the Laminariaceae of 7 to 8°C the Lessoniaceae of 5 to 6OC the Phyllariaceae of 4 \"C and the Chordaceae of 3 to 4OC All gametophytes tested survlve a temperature of 1 \"C for 8 wk Eleven out of 42 species do not tolerate -1 5 and/or 0 \"C over 8 wk Temperature tolerance of the gametophytes coincides wlth the large-scale distribution of the species but is not crucial for distnbution llmits in most cases In addition to the temperature tolerance, the dark tolerance of fllamentous gametophytes of 12 kelp species was investigated All but 3 specles survived 18 mo of darkness

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Temperature tolerance and survival in darkness of kelp gametophyles (Laminariales, Phaeophyta): ecological and biogeographical implications

Highly efficient iodine species enriching and guest-driven tunable luminescent properties based on a cadmium(II)-triazole MOF.

Cultivation of kelp has been well established throughout Asia, and there is now growing interest in the cultivation of macroalgae in Europe to meet future resource needs. If this industry is to become established throughout Europe, then balancing the associated environmental risks with potential benefits will be necessary to ensure the carrying capacity of the receiving environments are not exceeded and conservation objects are not undermined. This is a systematic review of the ecosystem changes likely to be associated with a developing seaweed aquaculture industry. Monitoring recommendations are made by risk ranking environmental changes, highlighting the current knowledge gaps and providing research priorities to address them. Environmental changes of greatest concern were identified to include: facilitation of disease, alteration of population genetics and wider alterations to the local physiochemical environment. Current high levels of uncertainty surrounding the true extent of some environmental changes mean conservative risk rankings are given. Recommended monitoring options are discussed that aim to address uncertainty and facilitate informed decision-making. Whilst current small-scale cultivation projects are considered ‘low risk’, an expansion of the industry that includes ‘large-scale’ cultivation will necessitate a more complete understanding of the scale dependent changes in order to balance environmental risks with the benefits that seaweed cultivation projects can offer.

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The Environmental Risks Associated With the Development of Seaweed Farming in Europe - Prioritizing Key Knowledge Gaps

Macroscopic marine algae, or seaweeds, form an important living resource of the oceans as primary producers. People have collected seaweeds for food, both for humans and animals. They also have been a source of nutrient-rich fertilizers, as well as a source of gelling agents known as phycocolloids. More recently, macroalgae play significant roles in medicine and biotechnology. Today, seaweed cultivation techniques are standardized, routine, and economical. Several factors, including understanding the environmental regulation of life histories and asexual propagation of thalli, are responsible for the success of large-scale seaweed cultivation. Different taxa require different farming methodologies. During the last 50 years, approximately 100 seaweed taxa have been tested in field farms, but only a dozen are commercially cultivated today. Of these, only five genera (Laminaria, Undaria, Porphyra, Eucheuma/Kappaphycus, and Gracilaria ) represent around 98% of the world’s seaweed production.

Mass Production of Marine Macroalgae

Every possible means is being exploited on water and land by the communist regime to feed China's ever-expanding population and to provide industrial materials for building the nation's military strength. To millions of mainland Chinese aquicultural and agricultural pursuits are part and parcel of their livelihood. There is no reason to doubt that, since the food crisis of 1959-61, considerable advances have been made in mainland China in aquicultural practices as well as in breeding of more productive strains of agricultural plants and animals, control of insects and diseases, and enlargement of fertilizer production facilities. However, long before many of these developments began to occur on land, the Chinese had turned to lakes, rivers, and seas for supplementary food supplies and industrial materials. Westerners tend to overlook the significance of aquatic plants and animals in their estimates of caloric intake by mainland Chinese. In addition to kelp, laver, and other edible seaweeds, such marine products as sea cucumber, jellyfish, Amphioxus, squid, and octopus are popular items in Chinese cuisine, a fact that most Americans tend to disbelieve. Partly due to lack of knowledge of Chinese eating habits, evaluations by western experts of the nutritional status of China's population often fall short of reality. In China's present plans for economic growth, expansion of aquiculture is a project of high priority. Creation of the Ministry

Tien-Hsi Cheng

Papers

Production of kelp - a major aspect of China's exploitation of the sea