Economic potential of seaweed resources in the West Bengal Coast, India Yadav Sudhir Kumar* Botanical Survey of India, CGO Complex, Sector 1, Salt Lake City, Kolkata, West Bengal, India *Corresponding author: skyadavbsic@gmail.com
Online published on 2 September, 2023. Abstract Under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the United Nations, the life below water is recognised as one of the important components. Therefore, proper explorations and documentation of the marine bioresources of any region is essential for its conservation and sustainable utilization. The state of West Bengal is endowed with a coastline of about 220 km in length and lies in east coast in the Bay of Bengal. It also harbours the Sundarban Biosphere Reserves, which is a globally recognized UNESCO site. Seaweeds are the marine macro algae and constitute an integral part of the marine flora, along with micro algae, mangroves, seagrasses etc. Besides its ecological role in the marine food chains, seaweeds are of great economic potential in the form of food, fodder and in industries. Globally, about 11,000 taxa of seaweeds are reported, of which about 221 taxa are recognized as economically important in various forms. In the present study, the coastline of the West Bengal was explored during 2019-2022 and 28 taxa of seaweeds, comprising of 20 Chlorophyceae (71%) and 8 Rhodophyceae (29%) were recorded. Among these, 11 taxa are recognized with economical potential in the form of food, fodder and for industries. The important genera include Ulva, Chaetomorpha, Cladophora, Gelidium, Gracilaria and Catenella. The present paper deals with the economic potentiality of these seaweeds towards Blue economy for posterity and welfare of the mankind. Top Keywords Seaweeds, Economical potential, Coastline, Blue economy, Sundarban. Top |