Published on 21 Mar 2025
• Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying chaired the first National Conference on Promotion of Seaweed Cultivation at Kutch, Gujarat.
• Seaweeds are macroscopic algae growing in the marine and shallow coastal waters and brackish water habitats.
• They are renewable sources of food, energy, chemicals and medicines with manifold nutritional, industrial, biomedical, agriculture and personal care applications.
• They are termed as the ‘Medical Food of the 21st Century’ due to usage as laxatives, for making pharmaceutical capsules, in treatment of goitre, cancer, bone-replacement therapy and in cardiovascular surgeries.
• Around 844 species of seaweeds have been reported from Indian seas, among them, 221 species are commercially important and abundant along the Tamil Nadu and Gujarat coasts and around Lakshadweep and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
• Rich seaweed beds occur around Mumbai, Ratnagiri, Goa, Karwar, Varkala, Vizhinjam and Pulicat in Tamil Nadu & Andhra Pradesh and Chilka in Orissa.
Seaweed Cultivation
Seaweed
Indian Coast
Coastline
Coastal area
Marine biodiversity
Allied sector