Appendix A

Wild seaplant resources should be exploited based on carefully executed management plans to ensure that one achieves full sustainable capacity and, if the conditions exist, farming will always be a good option to improve the total catch.

I am claiming that every single seaplant, that can be harvested and/or farmed in enough quantities, will be useful in more than one way. It should be possible to encourage people to use local resources. Today there is enough knowledge to enable us to make a quick guess about uses of local resources.

Projects could be started on a pilot scale, obtaining enough raw materials to be evaluated and taking care to slowly increase the harvest to ensure a sustainable yield. This can be done with local communities of fishermen that are already connected to the sea. Based on preliminary data, it will not take long before one has a good idea of how to proceed in order to develop a market for these seaplant products. At a very early stage it will be determined if the project will harvest/farm cash crops to be sold in the international market or produce food, fertilizers, etc. to be consumed in the local markets. My guess is that some of the projects will be a combination of both.

One does not require lots of capital or knowledge to start a project to harvest wild seaplants and manufacture human food, animal feed and agricultural products. Again, the local conditions will dictate the scale and the final aim of the project. What is frustrating is that most of these small projects waste valuable resources in discovering the wheel one more time! This is where FAO should have a critical role.

I envision regional hubs where the necessary human and financial resources are located. These hubs will serve as repositories of the necessary knowledge so a single place can serve many local communities. Obviously, there has to be a very strong connection between the hub people and the small communities. In my experience, one has to be working in the field with the local people to really understand the way they think and this tends to build long lasting and trusting personal relations that increase the chance of having a successful enterprise.

I must also recognize that in some instances, small coastal communities will not be the adequate channel to exploit the seaplant resources. In cases where large entities are necessary it will be a matter of the local conditions dictating who will manage the enterprise - a private company, a government company or a hybrid entity. My only concern would be that such entities are somehow connected to the sea, understand how fragile this environment is, and are willing to have patience and reap the benefits in the long run and ensure sustainable exploitation of the resources.

I have seen first hand enough over-exploitation of the seas [cod, shrimp, sea ­urchins, etc.] and the last thing I want is to start overharvesting seaplants. I must also add that until now, all the seaplant harvesters I have been involved with run their businesses in a responsible way.

So what would be my hands-on approach?

One can start in places where there is enough natural accumulation of storm-cast seaplants or easily accessible material that can be harvested on foot during low tide. A quick pilot survey will guide us regarding what to collect and how to collect.

Even if the material is a bag of mixed species, this is useful material for producing compost and possible kelp meal to be used as animal feed or fertilizers. There are some easy bush-tech ways of cleaning the stuff from sand and other junk. All that is really needed is people to collect the stuff and some basic ways of getting it dried as soon as possible so it does not rot. If warranted, one can also go the high tech way, or at least the grand scale way, and end up producing large quantities of kelp meal.

The next step would be to select seaplants to be consumed directly by humans as sea vegetables or as "sea farina" (this is food grade seaplant meal, mesh size depending on final application, fine for baking, coarser for use as salt substitute or condiment). Like in the good old days of Irish carragheen. This can also be done at various scales from a small family business all the way to Chinese style Laminaria harvesting-farming.

I am aware that the moment one starts talking about food grade materials one has to deal with the local regulatory agencies to ensure the safety of the sea vegetables. I do not see this as a big headache. Again, there is a long list of seaplants used as food in all sort of places around the world and this information should be used as a reference.

This is also an opportunity for FAO in trying to establish [together with WHO?] a set of health standard for seaplants. I am not aware of many countries that have a good consistent regulation in these matters but I do have some references if you are interested.

Can you imagine the health benefits for children and pregnant women in third world countries if we could add just three percent sea-farina to the tortillas, pitas and breads of the world? This would be a wonderful way of helping improve the health of general populations.

I would insist on the concept of the sea-farina because not everybody will jump at the opportunity of having a plate of Sargassum for lunch or having Dulse as a snack. Take into consideration that properly dried seavegetables or sea-farina are stable for months [if not years]. They do not need to be frozen or refrigerated and the sea farina is very compact and easy to transport.

I have information about the use of seavegetables as food and their nutritional benefits. I managed to surprise myself by being able to buy 28 different seavegetables cooking books. This tells you that there is much more to seavegetables than eating sushi! I have recipes from China, Japan, Republic of Korea, Ireland, Wales, Brittany, France, Chile, Mexico, Far East Russia ...

If one wants to get a little fancier, it is possible to pickle, salt, roast or even can seavegetables!

The consumption of kelp-meal for agricultural and feed use has increased in the last couple of years. Much of it has to do with people buying more natural [organic, bio-] products. This is not a fad. This trend is here to stay. The debate about genetically modified food ingredients will only create more demand for sea farina/kelp meal products.

Some places might choose to grow cash crops either to be exported or used locally as raw materials in the manufacture of gums [food, industrial or otherwise]. I also see a role for FAO in this endeavour. Not all the carrageenan has to come from Eucheuma and not all the agar must be extracted from Gracilaria or Gelidium seaplants. In India alginate is extracted from Turbinaria and Sargassum. Ahnfeltia is used for agar in Russia and Phyllophora was used for carrageenan in Ukraine.

I think that it is only in the United States that there is an unreasoned list telling you what can be used as a source of carrageenans. Alginate and agar raw materials are quite open. If there is enough raw material to make a decent extract why not use it? If there is not enough material, try to grow more of your local stuff instead of bringing exotic species!

If people want to use local types they must be very careful on the protocols used to evaluate the raw materials. I have seen many, many papers talking about potential sources of agar and am still waiting to see a new industry being built on them. It is sad to read papers where it is clear that the gum was degraded during extraction or papers claiming a good source without having done a material balance on the raw material to enable a correct calculation of the real yields.

FAO can be the catalyst to establish R&D hubs where the necessary process-chemistry expertise exists. Let the farmers farm, the harvesters harvest and give the engineers a chance to do the process development.

I see there is a very good chance of developing seaplant resources to be used as raw material for many different products.