Seaweed cultivation, product development and integrated aquaculture studies in Chile

Abstract

Over the past 10 years, seaweed utilization in Chile reached a volume of over 400,000 tons (wet weight) per year. Fifty percent of that production involved various species of Phaeophyta. The other 50 percent resulted from the harvest of Rhodophyta. Chile has, thus, become one of the most important countries for exploitation, cultivation and uses of algae. Algal production in Chile is mainly based upon the exploitation of wild stocks and cultivation on a commercial scale remains restricted to Gracilaria chilensis (Buschmann et al. 2001a). This contribution presents a brief summary of the available information in the country on brown and red seaweed cultivation. Second, we discuss an interest in developing novel seaweed products to increase the profitability of algal markets and third, we provide evidence gathered along the Chilean coast for the use of seaweeds as biofilters. This paper covers only the most important species exploited at the present time in Chile. Therefore, our discussion is restricted to important advances in the development of a diversified seaweed aquaculture industry in Chile.