SEAFDEC conducts training on seaweed biotech
It is no secret among seaweed industry insiders that the biggest problem facing the industry is scarcity of good quality seedstock. Like rice farmers, seaweed farmers set aside a bit of their harvest to use as seeds in the next cropping period. After decades of this practice, it is to be expected that the seaweed seedstock in the country is losing much of its strength or viability because of continuous "cutting and planting" by the farmers.
To survive, seaweeds need to be tougher too, and the commercially important ones like Kappaphycus and Gracilaria can be made so with the help of research.
In comes biotechnology. Not to mess with the genetic make-up of seaweeds, the tools are far from that, and besides, seaweed-importing countries are wary of GMOs (genetically modified organisms), but to help seaweeds reproduce and grow better without interference and under controlled conditions. The most successful cultivar grown will eventually be distributed among seaweed farmers. The effort is also to reduce the occurrence of "ice-ice" disease or the whitening of the thallus syndrome.
Through the full efforts of SEAFDEC, the research institution in Iloilo, the Government of Japan awarded a biotechnology facility to the Department of Agriculture and this was sited within the SEAFDEC station. With this facility, SEAFDEC has made remarkable strides in its seaweed strain improvement program.
To share its techniques and results, the first-ever training on "Seaweed tissue culture and sporulation" in the Philippines was conducted for a month, from February 19 to March 23.
The training had six participants take part in lectures on biology and seaweed farming, laboratory work and field trips. For the most part, though, the trainees were holed up in the laboratory to do exercises in protoplast isolation, sporulation (spore shedding), tissue culture and mutagenesis.
The participants are the core personnel of the government's seaweed program. They are from BFAR's National Fisheries Research Development Institute (NFRDI) and National Integrated Fisheries Training and Development Center (NIFTDC). Two academics also joined, from the Mindanao State University in Tawi-Tawi and the Zamboanga State College of Marine Science and Technology, and both participants were funded by USAID's Growth for Equity in Mindanao (GEM) thru the Western Mindanao Seaweed Industry Development Foundation Inc (WMSIDFI).
"We need to renew the seaweed stocks for the industry to be competitive and for seaweed farmers to earn more," Dr. Joebert Toledo, AQD Chief, said. "There is increasing demand for seaweeds in the international market."
The carrageenan and agar extracted from seaweeds are used in the food and pharmaceutical industries.
"I thank our collaborators for their foresightedness," Dr. Toledo added.
The training course is a joint undertaking of AQD, GEM-USAID, WMSIDFI, and BFAR's NFRDI and NIFTDC.
SEAFDEC's research on seaweeds dates back 1988, resulting to several publications on Gracilaria, Kappaphycus and Eucheuma from farming systems, biofiltration, hydrocolloid characterization to disease occurrence, and more recently on tissue culture. SEAFDEC has also written a how-to manual on farming the seaweed Kappaphycus and a monograph on the seaweeds of Panay Island.
The Aquaculture Department of the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC) was established in the Philippines nearly 34 years ago as one of the four departments of this regional treaty organization. It aims to secure food for the growing population of Southeast Asia.