Utilization and farming of seaweeds in Indonesia

Abstract

A great variety of seaweeds grow abundantly along the 81,000-km coastline of the 13,000 islands comprising the Indonesian archipelago. However, it is only recently that the economic importance of seaweeds has really been appreciated. At present, seaweeds collected in Indonesia are mainly used for food supplement, domestic agar manufacture, and for export. Because of the increasing demands for the carrageenan-containing seaweed, mass cultures have been undertaken in both experimental and production sites established in many parts of the country. These efforts are expected to increase the annual volume of exports from 2000 to 6000 mt. The paper reviews the state and problems of seaweed utilization, development, and farming efforts in Indonesia.