There is an urgent need for diversifying livelihood of low-income artisanal fishermen due to rapidly dwindling fishery resources. CSIR-Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute takes pride in being first for pioneering Kappaphycus alvarezii cultivation, heralding an era of commercial seaweed farming in India. The invention of liquefying fresh seaweed biomass to obtain two products in an integrated manner, one being a granular residue rich in κ-carrageenan and the other being sap rich in potash and micronutrients (ca. 2 % w/v), with proven efficacy has provided a boost to commercial farming. The production has been substantially increased from 21 dry tonnes in 2001 to 1490 dry tonnes in 2013 with concomitant purchase value of <4.5 to 35 Rs kg−1 (dry). India is fast emerging as important production center in Southeast Asia for K. alvarezii production with estimated 765,000 man-days of employment, having annual turnover of around Rs 2 billion. At present, commercial farming is carried out following three techniques, namely floating bamboo raft, tube net, and longline method of which former two are widely practiced. The cultivation activity is well established in southern state of Tamil Nadu and progressing rapidly to other areas namely Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra. The socioeconomic benefits accrued in this project are overwhelmingly positive, but evidence-based policies are required for addressing prevailing environmental issues. The steps toward developing value-added products with niche applications coupled with biotechnological interventions aimed at seed production through tissue culture for developing elite germplasm, etc. could further improve the prospects of taking this project to pan India level. The present review provides a detailed account of developments of commercial farming that has witnessed successful diversification of livelihood consistently for the last 10 years.

An appraisal on commercial farming of Kappaphycus alvarezii in India: success in diversification of livelihood and prospects

Annual Report 2017-18

The growing interest in laver as a food product and as a source of substances beneficial to health has led to global consumer demand for laver produced in a limited area of northeastern Asia. Here we review research into the benefits of laver consumption and discuss future perspectives on the improvement of laver product quality. Variation in nutritional/functional values among product types (raw and processed (dried, roasted, or seasoned) laver) makes product-specific nutritional analysis a prerequisite for accurate prediction of health benefits. The effects of drying, roasting, and seasoning on the contents of both beneficial and harmful substances highlight the importance of managing laver processing conditions. Most research into health benefits has focused on substances present at high concentrations in laver (porphyran, Vitamin B12, taurine), with assessment of the expected effects of laver consumption. Mitigation of chemical/microbiological risks and the adoption of novel technologies to exploit under-reported biochemical characteristics of lavers are suggested as key strategies for the further improvement of laver product quality. Comprehensive analysis of the literature regarding laver as a food product and as a source of biomedical compounds highlights the possibilities and challenges for application of laver products.

https://www.mdpi.com/1660-3397/18/1/14/pdf

Health Functionality and Quality Control of Laver (Porphyra, Pyropia): Current Issues and Future Perspectives as an Edible Seaweed.

[1]Time series of temperature and salinity in the upper ocean, measured at 17°30'N, 89°E in the northern Bay of Bengal, from 27 July to 6 August 1999 captured an event of upper layer freshening. Initially, the upper layer that is homogeneous in both temperature and salinity was about 30 m deep. Subsequently, the arrival of a freshwater plume caused the depth of the mixed layer to decrease to about 10 m and the salinity in the surface layer by about 4 psu. The plume led to the formation of a new halocline and hence a barrier layer within the upper 30 m of the water column. The ensuing ocean-atmosphere interaction was restricted to the new thinner mixed layer. The cooling that was restricted to the mixed layer led to an inversion in temperature amounting to 0.5°C just below the mixed layer. The source of the plume is traced to freshwater from river discharge and rainfall that was advected by Ekman flow as a 15 m thick layer. This study suggests that wind-driven circulation is crucial in determining the path of freshwater in the Bay of Bengal. The fresh water affects the sea surface temperature and ocean- atmosphere coupling through the dependence of the depth of the mixed layer on salinity.

Observations of barrier layer formation in the Bay of Bengal during summer monsoon : The role of surface salinity on upper ocean dynamics, air-sea interaction, and climate (SURFSAL)

Seaweeds are a renewable marine resources and have not yet received considerable attention in the field of taxonomy in India as compared to their terrestrial counterparts, essentially due to the lack of awareness of their economic potential. Although the recent inventory from the Indian region documented the presence of approximately 865 seaweed taxa, of which only a few are taxonomically well characterized, more precise information still awaits with respect to microscopic and molecular examinations of many. Thus far, in terms of spatial extent, probably only a few of the total hospitable seaweed habitats have been explored, and large portions, including island territories and subtidal waters, remain virtually untouched. Surveying those may lead to the reporting of several taxa new to science. Furthermore, more focused efforts are required to understand the endemic and endangered taxa which have high conservation implications. Considering the unprecedented pressures seaweeds are facing, including coastal pollution and human-induced global warming, it is critical to reinforce our knowledge of seaweed biodiversity. In the present communication, we intended to address the status of seaweed biodiversity in India along with the gaps, challenges, and opportunities.

https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/12/1/13/pdf

Seaweed Biodiversity of India: Reviewing Current Knowledge to Identify Gaps, Challenges, and Opportunities

Detailed morphological, anatomical and molecular characteristics of Ulva on the west coast of India revealed the presence of U. chaugulii sp. nov. Ulva chaugulii is characterized by tubular, compressed and fragile thalli with infundibuliform shape, a dilated apex and the presence of two pyrenoids per cell. The molecular phylogeny based on the rbcL gene and internal transcribed spacer rDNA sequences support the recognition of a new lineage within Ulva. The present study also verifies the presence of U. ohnoi in western India. Ulva lactuca and U. ohnoi from India were resolved as separate lineages based on rbcL phylogeny. The genetic divergence between rbcL sequences of these two species was 0.4%.

Morphological and molecular characterization of Ulva chaugulii sp. nov., U. lactuca and U. ohnoi (Ulvophyceae, Chlorophyta) from India

Pyropia vietnamensis is one of the most luxuriously growing seaweed in Konkan coast, India. In the present study we attempted to explore the morphology, ecology and molecular characteristics exhibited by P. vietnamensis and its taxonomic implications. We described the effects of ecological parameters on the variability of morphological characters. The water motion was found to be one of the most important ecological parameter that governs the plant morphology. The plant was found to grow on entire intertidal region and this may be one of the possible reasons for high morphological variation among the taxa in this region. The molecular analysis utilizing cox 1 gene sequences clearly revealed the close relation of Indian and Brazilian specimens with only 0-1 bp intraspecific variation. The present study provides a beginning to a clearly required detailed study of the morphology, ecology and genetic diversity showed by Pyropia species from Indian waters.

/pdf/morphological-ecological-and-molecular-characterization-of-57mxf4fh91.pdf

Morphological, ecological and molecular characterization of Pyropia vietnamensis (Bangiales, Rhodophyta) from the Konkan region, India

Despite having one million active fishermen, India lacks a scalable boat-to-shore communication framework. Small boat operators, which form 80% of entire fishing community, are more vulnerable to the wilder nature of the ocean, due to dynamic sea current, wind speed, direction and wave heights, etc. This is also one of reason for fishermen entering accidently in other country's territory, getting caught and sometimes costing their life. This poses a serious question to fishermen and their family, whether they would return the next time they venture out in to the sea. Deep sea mobile connectivity and Information, given in advance about the sea conditions such as wind speed and wave height can help fishermen to plan their trip effectively and avoid the danger zone. This infrastructure could provide path of building "knowledge society" to fishermen deprived of real time and usable information. For realizing this, integration of the existing communication technologies like VHF transceivers, satellite communication and extension of mobile communication network is needed. A consortium of partners like Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Tata Consultancy Service and Tata Tele Services piloted a project for mobile signal extension into the sea upto 30kms. This enabled an extended network accessibility, which led to create an Early Warning System over a digital highway of 30 by 120 KM, along the coast. This paper captures the experiences and recommendations derived from this pilot.

Mobile signal extension in deep sea — towards a safe and sustainable fisheries

A mobile app for supporting sustainable fishing practices in Alibaug

This paper proposes to find an optimal feature set for handwritten numeral recognition using the box partitioning method. The feature under study is the mean normalized distance measure which is the most popular descriptor in this regard. However it is always used in combination with other descriptors and does not give good classification results when used on its own. The descriptor vector is obtained by partitioning the numeral image into sub-boxes and computing the distance measure from each sub-box taken in order. A series of evaluations is carried out in this work to verify the optimal size and number of sub-boxes by subjecting the resulting feature vectors to a rigorous handwritten numeral classification test, using a simple MLP neural network classifier. It is proved in our work that better results are obtained when the number of partitions along the horizontal and vertical axis of the image is fixed, rather than the conventional technique of arbitrarily dividing the image into sub-boxes of pre-defined dimensions.

Veerendra Veer Singh

Papers

Morphological and molecular characterization of Ulva chaugulii sp. nov., U. lactuca and U. ohnoi (Ulvophyceae, Chlorophyta) from India

Morphological, ecological and molecular characterization of Pyropia vietnamensis (Bangiales, Rhodophyta) from the Konkan region, India

Mobile signal extension in deep sea — towards a safe and sustainable fisheries

A mobile app for supporting sustainable fishing practices in Alibaug

On the discriminative power of different feature subsets for handwritten numeral recognition using the box-partitioning method