Seaweed are the magnificent plants of the sea; these are available in the coastal zones throughout the world. They are generally classified into Chlorophyta (green algae), Phaeophyta (brown algae) and Rhodophyta (red algae). Use of seaweed as food has strong roots in Asian countries, but the extent and scope of seaweeds utilization in this modern world is increasing for human consumption, medicine, hydrocolloid production, cosmetics, animal feed additive, fertilizers and soil conditioners, etc. Seaweed based products that have been known, and clinically documented bioactivity, have potential to become value-added functional products. However, seaweed is almost unknown to mass population in Bangladesh. So far, there are approximately 250 species in Bangladesh; of those, 20 are commercially important which remain available in abundance during October to April. Bangladesh has a high potential for seaweed farming due to favorable climatic conditions and availability of long 710 km coastal areas. To utilize seaweed resources, some experimental approaches have been tried. Both the government institutions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and international organizations like WorldFish have taken initiatives for mass scale farming of seaweed with mixed successes. Further, the efforts in seaweed cultivation, and its utilization through product and process development could help exploring new arena of investment and income as well as fetching substantial foreign exchange to contribute to the much-cherished blue economy dream of the country. This article provides a comprehensive review of diversified usage of seaweeds at the global level, and its potentials for farming and utilization in Bangladesh.
ZAMAN et al. (Fri,) studied this question.