Table 16. 5saweedpmdUCtiDn PeP1en@h~f
irreversibly, depleted- Seaweed
mastline in Asia ,d ae Pacific in 1990- Started with simple methods
(Source: FA0 1992d. natural but it is now being
transformed into a %igh-tech'' industry
seaweed
~ountries/regions Production with indoor "hatcheties", genetic
(t krn.l) manipulation of stocks and fertihzati~n
China 913
Korea, Rep, of 31 2
vow arm ht, \95",: ek
1990; and Wang 1992). Intensively
Japan 19.0 famed coastal areas in China, Japan or
Philippines 8.4
Korea, D.P.R. 7.1 the Koreas are impressive examples of
Taiwan 6.6 how humans can open up such a new
Indonesia 1 .o frontier. The eco~ogica~imp~ications ofsuch
Vietnam 0.6 changes, however, have not yet been
Developing Asia-Pacific 12.1
addressed.
Developed ~aia-Pacific 10.3 International demand forphycocollaids
derived from various seaweed species
Regional average 11.7 (agar, alginates and carrageenans) has
grown rapidly and has led to the rapid
depletion of natural seaweed stocks.
Culturing seaweed was promoted by the
traditionally for human consumption processingindustry itself. One of the most
(~rimarily in Japan and the two Koreas) sought afterspecieswasLarninaria, which
but, since the middle of the 1980s, their is the raw material for alginate extraction.
production has declined with inti-easing This seaweed was already cultivated for
cornpetition from other users ofresources. direct human consumption, and its
The next group consists of Eucheuma production was easily expanded to supply
species, cultivated only since the 1970s, the industrial demand. Presently there
and almost exclusively for extraction of seems to be an oversupply ofLanzinaria,
carrageenans. The well developed seaweed with production decreasing slightly since
industry in the Philippines and the 1985, especially in China, the major
fledgling operations in Indonesia and some producer in the region. Chinahas developed
Pacific Island countries are based on these its own alginate extracting industry, but
species. Cracihria species are produced about 70% ofthe global alginate production
primarily for agar extraction; the major is in the hands of two companies, one in
producer is Taiwan. Other species (mostly the UK and one in the USA. Norway,
green algae, like Monostroma, Caulerpa, Japan and France are also well known
Enteromorphu, Uha) are produced in producers (Santos et al. 1988).
smaller quantitiesfor human consumption. Carrageenans were previously
Seaweed supply in the Asia-Pacific manufactured from Chondrus and
region is now entirely dependent on Gigartina species. However, as natural
aquaculture. Over the past five years, stocks of these seaweeds became rapidly
more than 90% of' the total regional depleted, the processing industry turned
landings came from culture operations, to alternative species. It is now estimated
compared to less than 5% in the rest of the that nearly half of the world supply of
world. However, even in Asia, only two thesephycocolloids comesfromEucheuma
decades ago, most ofthe supply still came species, cultured primarily in the
from the exploitation of natural stocks Philippines. The carrageenan industry,
which were rapidly and, in many cases which is closely linked to the food and pet
