Seaweed soiree

PROPELLED by the overexploitation of the earth's resources, scientists are now turning to the sea. Although not a mouth-watering idea just yet, seaweeds could actually become a gourmet's delight in the 21st century.

"Seaweeds are one of the important sources of food, feed, fertilizers and also chemicals," says scientist A G Untawale of the Goa-based National Institute of Oceanography (NIO).

India has a coastline of about 7,000 km, with seaweed resources estimated at about 100,000 tonnes (wet weight per year).

Untawale, alongwith C R K Reddy of the Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute, Bhavnagar, Gujarat, recently conducted a study on the future potential of seaweed technology.

India currently uses seaweeds for making agar and alginates. But species like Porphyra, Monostroma and Ulva -- already known for their use as nutritive food in China, Japan and Korea -- have yet to be popularized among Indians. Infant mortality in South Asia, largely due to protein deficiency, can be "overcome by the addition of protein-rich marine algae in the diet", says the nio study.

India is estimated to have almost 524 different marine algal species of various groups. Tamil Nadu's coast is the richest with 302 species. Untawale and Reddy say that although much phycological research has been done in India, marine algae utilisation is still at an "infant stage".

Perfection in seaweed farming techniques is expected to boost research in molecular biology, genetic engineering and tissue culture. Species like Eucheuma which is cultivated in the Philippines, Indonesia and the us on a largescale, may be an ideal sea crop for Indian tropical conditions, feel Indian scientists. Scientists abroad are already considering the possibility of making biogas from marine algae -- the "energy crop".