Economic Status of Seaweed: Production, Consumption, Commercial Applications, Hazards, and Legislations

Commercial exploitation of seaweed is primarily focused on farming the edible species or on production of hydrocolloids. Currently, seaweeds are used as food for direct consumption, as food ingredients, in cosmetics, fertilizers, and for production of gelling agents such as agar and alginate. Further opportunities for commercial exploitation of seaweed may include processing for bioactives, processing of meats, sausages, and fish, nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals and dentistry, clarifying alcohol, the health and beauty industries, animal stock feeds, soil conditioners, fertilizers, biofuels, water filtration, and livestock and fishery diets. Global seaweed production has experienced steady growth in recent years, as have the by-products and co-products derived from them. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’ annual publications are primarily the only source of statistics on seaweed. The purpose of this chapter is to review the recent published literature on commercial aspects of seaweed including its production statistics and usage details and present a comprehensive business overview of this unique resource.