| Mariculture is the
cultivation of the sea, involving the large-scale
cultivation of commercially useful organisms, including
seaweeds. It is aimed at increasing biomass yield per
substrate area and being able to achieve this under
controlled or semi-controlled conditions. Seaweeds form a
very important part of the human diet in Japan, China and
other Asian countries, providing protein, vitamins, and
other minerals. Phycocolloids such as agars, carrageenans
and alginates are commercially very important, and are
extracted from red and brown algae. Agars that are
extracted from Gelidium are used mainly in
microbiology, while Gracilaria agars are used in
foods. Carrageenans, are widely used as thickeners in
dairy products, while alginates serves as thickening
agent in products ranging from salad dressings to coating
in paper manufacture. My honours project involves raft-cultivation of Gracilaria gracilis in St. Helena Bay, South Africa over a period of one month. Now read on about the cultivation of Gracilaria, and other seaweeds, as well as their uses in the industry.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: A special thanks goes to Jocelyn Collins and Prof. D. W. Keats for their help with this webpage. Thanks to Masao Ohno and Alan Critchley for allowing me to use their plates, as well as Arturo Lluisma, Jason Young and Carol Amaratunga for providing the beautiful slides of the seaweeds. Also a special thanks to all those who offered support and encouragement.
Pages created and maintained by Natalie Prins & Jocelyn Collins Friday, March 09, 2001 11:53:30 AM |
