SeaweedAfrica

1
SeaweedAfrica

• Underpinning Sustainable Ecosystem
• Management of Seaweed Resources in Africa
  Expanding the Seaweed Database

2
European Partners

• Ireland Martin Ryan Institute, National
  University of Ireland, Galway. Co-ordinator
• Prof. Michael Guiry
• Dr Róisín Nash
• Sandy Lawson
• Sweden University of Stockholm
• Dr Mats Björk Karolina Bauer
• Strong Links to the University of Dar Es
  Salaam,Tanzania (Sware Semesi, Matern Moltera)
• Portugal CIIMAR
• Prof. Isabel Sousa Pinto
• Andreia Braga-Henriques
• Two subcontractors

www.seaweedafrica.org
3
Subcontractors (via Portugal)

• Mozambique University of Eduardo Mondlane
• Dr Salomão Bandeira
• Henriques Jacinto Balidy
• Brazil University of São Paulo
• Prof. Eurico Cabral De Oliveira Filho

www.seaweedafrica.org
4
African Partners

• South Africa University of the Western Cape
• Prof. Derek Keats
• Martin Cocks
• Dr Neil Griffin
• South Africa University of Cape Town
• Prof. John Bolton
• Dr Rob Anderson (Marine and Coastal Management)
• Dr AJ Smit Dr Enrico Trochin
• Kenya IOI-East Africa
• Mr Patrick Gwada
• Namibia University of Namibia
• Mr Lineekela Kandjengo
• Dr Alan Critchley (France)

www.seaweedafrica.org
5
Basic Facts

• Funded through the INCO-DEV section of FP5
• Duration of the project Nov 2001 - Oct 2005
• Funded to the sum of almost 1,000,000
• 6 partner countries ( 2 subcontractor countries)
  involved
• It is an expansion of AlgaeBase (One of the five
  largest biological databases in the world)
  www.algaebase.org
• AlgaeBase contains
• 34,588 bibliographical references,
• 2,314 common names,
• 109,473 distributional records,
• 17,657 etymological entries,
• 5,785 genera,
• 2,879 images,
• 61,738 species
• (15th August 2005)

www.seaweedafrica.org
6
Basic Facts

• Despite its enormous coastline and burgeoning
  maritime populations, Africa has not seen major
  developments of a seaweed industry except in
  Tanzania and South Africa, and recently in
  Mozambique.

• SeaweedAfrica is prioritizing the entry of
  information from Africa due to the relative
  inaccessibility of knowledge of seaweeds form
  Africa despite the incredible biodiversity which
  is particularly high on the east coast.

www.seaweedafrica.org
7
Basic Facts

• In some areas, such as Namibia and the west coast
  of South Africa, upwelling of cold water shows
  enormous potential for maricultural development
  if the right algae and management techniques can
  be found.

Therefore one of the aims of SeaweedAfrica is
To increase access to information on seaweeds,
allowing best practice in sustainable seaweed
farming
8
SeaweedAfrica objectives

• To aid and accelerate seaweed aquaculture
  through developing the seaweed database to
  include information on
• Seaweed uses
• Common names
• Commercial usage Aquaculture Harvesting
• Ecological data
• Regulation and legislation information
• In other words to assemble knowledge currently
  dispersed particularly information that pertains
  to the development of an African industry

9
Seaweed - diversity
Red Rhodophyta c. 6,000 species

• Green
• Chlorophyta
• c. 12,000 species

• Brown
• Heterokontophyta
• c.2,000 species

10
Constituents of Seaweeds

• Fatty acids
• Sterols
• Lipids
• Acids
• Alkaloids
• Amines
• Cellulose
• Enzymes
• Glycosides
• Volatile Constituents

• Vitamins
• Phenolic compounds
• Sugar alcohols
• Steroids
• Amino acids
• Proteins
• Peptides
• Pigments
• Phytohormones
• Inorganic Constituents
• Antibacterial, Antibiotic, Antifungal and
  Antiviral Substances

11
www.seaweedafrica.org
An example of a search on the site for the uses
associated with Gracilaria gracilis
Front page as seen on the web

• You can enter a search for
• Species name such as Gracilaria gracilis
• Common name
• Country
• Ecological / aquaculture or harvest records

12
www.seaweedafrica.org
You will then be given a number of choices to
search for further information on this species
e.g. uses and compounds highlighted in red above.
If you click on this link you will be provided
with a list of the seaweeds uses and their
associated compounds.
13
www.seaweedafrica.org
A list of uses and coumpounds found associated
with Gracilaria gracilis. Further information can
be found by clicking on the book icon on the
right hand side.
14
An example of the Literature on Seaweed Uses
All information in SeaweedAfrica is traceable
back to a published source.

• Chapman, V.J. Chapman, D.J. (1980) Seaweeds and
  their uses. Chapman and Hall London
• Hoppe, H.A. Levring, T. (1982) Marine algae in
  pharmaceutical science. 309 pages Walter de
  Gruyter Berlin/New York
• Lembi, C.A. Waaland, J.R. (1988) Algae and
  human affairs. vii 590 pages Cambridge
  University Press Cambridge
• Levring, T., Hoppe, H.A. Schmid, O.J. (1969)
  Marine algae. A survey of research and
  utilization. vii 421 pages Cram, De Gruyter
  Co. Hamburg

www.seaweedafrica.org
15
Potential of SeaweedAfrica

• Resource distribution
• Allows any country to identify what species occur
  on their coast
• Uses potential uses of different species
• Important for countries who wish to initiate a
  seaweed utilisation strategy
• Current Resource Yields
• Scale of harvesting is unappreciated by many
• Current information on yields will act as a tool
  to illustrate the potential sustainable
  exploitation that can be achieved
• Resource distribution
• Allows any country to identify what species
  occur on their coast

www.seaweedafrica.org
16
www.seaweedafrica.org
Potential of SeaweedAfrica

• Resource distribution
• Allows any country to identify what species occur
  on their coast
• Uses potential uses of different species
• Important for countries who wish to initiate a
  seaweed utilisation strategy
• Current Resource Yields
• Scale of harvesting is unappreciated by many
• Current information on yields will act as a tool
  to illustrate the potential sustainable
  exploitation that can be achieved

17
www.seaweedafrica.org
Potential of SeaweedAfrica

• Ecological Information
• Information on life histories of
  commercialspecies is vital
• Preserving biodiversity
• May provide a secondary crop
• Information on associated species
• To ensure maximum efficiency of aquaculture
  initiatives
• To facilitate ecological/acceptable harvesting
  practices
• Methods of cultivation Harvesting
• Help to amalgamate different methods to produce
  the most appropriate technology
• Regulation management
• First point of contact country
• Legislation - country

18
Who will benefit?

• The expanded database aims to satisfy the needs
  of policy makers wishing to initiate sustainable
  seaweed production or effectively regulate
  already existing seaweed production whether that
  production be by harvesting or aquaculture.
• Other groups that will benefit from the
  information include universities, industry,
  government agencies, multidisciplinary research
  institutions, libraries, museums,
  non-governmental organisations and interested
  individuals.

www.seaweedafrica.org