Ireland will continue to lose out on a £50 million bonanza along its coastline unless there is a specific State commitment to developing the biochemistry and health food potential of the seaweed industry, according to members of a national seaweed forum.
The forum has called on the Minister for the Marine, Mr Fahey, to set up a seaweed research institute as a "regionally based centre of excellence" with links to research centres, industry and development agencies.
A report presented to the Minister by forum members in Furbo, Co Galway, this week said such an institute could select key commercial ideas for development in areas such as biotechnology and biomedicine.
Commercially exploitable species could be identified, quantified and mapped by this research institute, the report adds. It says Bord Iascaigh Mhara should establish a seaweed development section, the Marine Institute should appoint dedicated seaweed personnel and Arramara Teo, the processing company, should be expanded to allow it to diversify into new, related, commercially sustainable undertakings.
Currently, the Irish seaweed industry is valued at £6.9 million (€8.8 million) annually, and employs nearly 700 people on a full or part-time basis in remote rural areas of the west coast, primarily within the Gaeltacht.
The report found the socio-economic contribution the industry made was considerable and could be worth at least £50 million.
Prof Michael Guiry, director of the Martin Ryan Institute at NUI Galway, said it was vital the State capitalised on the employment and economic opportunities presented by seaweed. Only 16 of this coastline's 501 species were used commercially, he said.
Accepting the report, Mr Fahey said the findings would "inform future strategies and policies for sustainable development".
The National Seaweed Forum was established by Mr Fahey's predecessor, Dr Woods.
