Introduction
Seaweeds denote thousands of species of macroscopic, multicellular,
marine algae, such as Chlorophyta (green) ,Rhodophyta (red) and
Phaeophyta (brown) (1, 2). Importance of seaweeds in provision of
ecosystem services are known, for example species such as kelps provide
essential nursery habitat for fisheries and other marine species and
thus protect food sources (3); species of algae, play a vital role in
capturing carbon, producing up to 50% of earth’s oxygen (4). The
practice of cultivating and harvesting seaweed is known as Seaweed
farming (5). Management of naturally found batches of seaweeds mainly
conducted in its simplest form and full controlling the life cycle of
the algae in most advanced form of farming (6). Widely cultivated
seaweed taxa are Eucheuma spp., Saccharina japonica, Sargassum
fusiforme, Gracilaria spp., Pyropia spp., Undaria pinnatifida andKappaphycus alvarezii (1). Seaweeds are farmed for different
applications, for example Gracilaria is farmed for agar
production; Eucheuma and K. alvaraezii are farmed for
gelling agent (carrageenan); while the rest are for food (7, 8). China,
the Philippines, and Indonesia are the largest seaweed producers, others
include Zanzibar (Tanzania), Japan, North Korea, South Korea, and
Malaysia (9). The improvement of economic conditions and the reduction
of fishing pressure and overexploited fisheries are among the advantages
of seaweed cultivation (10).
Overall global production of farmed aquatic plants have been observed to
increase by more than 60% from 1995 to 2016 and is dominated by
seaweeds while as of 2014, seaweed contributed only 27% of all marine
aquaculture (11). Seaweed farming is a carbon negative crop, with a high
potential for climate change mitigation (11). A great diversity of
compounds exhibiting a broad spectrum of biological activities are
currently produced from seaweeds hence attract attention of
biotechnological interest (12). Bioactives from marine organisms has
shown capabilities such as antiviral, anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory, and
anti-lipedimic,which creates the burning need for management options for
a sustainable approach to their use (13, 14). Seaweed farming in the WIO
has great benefits to communities and should be encouraged as it
provides nutrients, medicine and income to societies. Also, knowledge of
the health and commercial benefit of seaweeds should be given to the
community to increase their utilization and thus production.