Seaweed or macroalgae are plants that live in marine or brackish water. They produce their own food like other land plants. Seaweed contain photosynthetic pigments in them. These pigments with the help of sunlight they photosynthesize, use the nutrients from seawater and produce foods for themselves.
Seaweed can be found in coastal areas between high – low tide to depths where the sunlight (even 0.01%) can reach for photosynthesis.
This plant’s pigments, depth, light availability, temperature, tide and shore properties create a variety of ecological environments which determine the type or variation among seaweeds. Seaweeds are mostly classified into three main groups according to the colors, green (Chlorophyta), brown (Phaeophyta) and red (Rhodophyta).
Seaweed is abundant in coastal areas. Wild seaweed production decreased due to excessive harvesting and unpredictable weather in the past years. This is why globally cultivated seaweed production is on the rise. And it has grown to a significant proportion that the number is around 50% by the last decade.
The Rising popularity of seaweed consumption indicates this industry has a huge market in the global arena which is currently estimated to be 10 to 12 million tones (frozen weight) annually.
Considering the rising popularity of seaweed, the cultivation of this sea plant is expected to continue to grow, indicating it could become important in stabilising food security. The global commercial seaweed market has been forecasted by the experts to increase to $24.92 billion in 2028 from its 2021 value of $15.01 billion.
Seaweed in Bangladesh:
Experimental cultivation of two species of seaweed first began at Saint Martin’s Island in 2010. Since 2016, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) has been cultivating seaweed in the coastal areas of Cox’s Bazar.
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