The seaweed resources of Ireland: a twenty-first century perspective

The harvesting of wild seaweeds continues to play an important cultural and socioeconomic role for many coastal communities on Ireland’s Atlantic seaboard. Although Irish waters contain a diverse and substantial benthic seaweed flora, only a few species are exploited commercially. Historically in Ireland, seaweed was commercially used as a raw material in the production of high-volume, low-value commodities such as animal feed and raw material for alginate production. Recently, with increasing acceptance of seaweed as a sea vegetable and its ever-increasing role as a raw material in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries, there has been a renewed vigour in the Irish seaweed industry particularly with new entrants into the human nutrition and cosmetic markets producing high-quality, high-value products. Although many of Ireland’s native seaweed species can be sustainably exploited if well managed, the fucoid Ascophyllum nodosum maintained its prominent role in the Irish seaweed industry. The traditional harvesting of A. nodosum in Ireland continues, although the recent introduction of new harvesting techniques, along with the expected expansion of the Irish seaweed cultivation sector, undoubtedly marks a shift in the Irish seaweed seascape. We focus here on the seaweed resources in Irish waters and how the industry has changed in the last 20 years.