Although more than 12,000 species of seaweeds have been described to date, a tiny fraction – 0.1% of these species – are commercially farmed today.
The evidence: The FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture database lists 47 algae species produced by aquaculture:
- 10 of these listed species are microalgae and therefore not included in this report.
- 15 of the remaining macroalgae species had no production in 2020.
- 10 macroalgae species had a production that is below a commercially relevant scale (<1,000 tonnes wet weight) in 2020.
Therefore, only about 12 macroalgae (seaweed) species are currently commercially farmed and accounted for more than 95% of the global seaweed production by both volume and value in 2020.
Some of these species are regional, have distinct names, or are farmed interchangeably, but are actually traded as one commodity and have the same supply chain set-up.
The main commercially farmed species can be summarised into five main seaweed species groups:
-
EucheumatoidsCottonii, Spinosa, Sacol
Spiny Eucheuma,
Elkhorn sea moss -
SaccharinaLaminaria japonica,
Saccharina latissima,
Laminaria digitata -
UndariaUndaria pinnatifida -
PyropiaPyropia yezoensis,
Porphyra spp.,
Porphyra columbina -
GracilariaGracilaria gracilis,
Gracilaria verrucosa,
Gracilaria spp. -
Macrocystis
Although the main commercial seaweeds have been around for almost half a century, they still show an incredibly high growth rate in terms of production volumes over the past decade. Gracilaria has been growing the strongest, with over a 200% increase in production volumes since 2010.