A Brief Review of Seaweed Harvest Value Chains

Abstract

<p>Key to realizing the vision of marine agronomy and seaweed utilization is an understanding about all steps necessary to collect and prepare the seaweed for processing (i.e., feedstock harvest, preprocessing, and logistics), as well as the costs and benefits of commercial implementation. Toward that end, the objective of this study was to examine the peer-reviewed scientific literature and other commercial information sources to identify and quantify key cost data. Specifically, this project focused on seaweed harvesting, drying, densifying, and transporting. This project did not, however, examine either growth/cultivation or the subsequent processing of the dried seaweed. Those topics, while important, will be the subject of a separate paper.</p>