P.ROJ ECT REPORT NO. 15 DFO - Library I MPO - Bibliotheque Canada. [Dept. of] Fisheries JUN ~ 1984 IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII~ 111111111111111111 Industrial Development Servi~e 69639188 FIClHfRIF'S .. PROJECT REPORT OCF.ANS C.-HAM. THE GENERAL STATUS OF THE SEAWEED INDUSTRY IN BRITISH COLUMBIA By A.W. Greenius British Columbia Research Council For Industrial Development Service Department of Fisheries of Canada, Ottawa December, 1967 5 1984 FI'!IHlltlf S '" OCEANS CANAO_ • THE GENERAL STATUS OF THE SEAWEED INDUSTRY IN BRITISH COLUMBIA By A.W. Greenius British Columbia Research Council Opinions expressed and conclusions reached by the author of this report are not necessari ly endorsed by the sponsors of this project , ~ < .,' . " . , ,. .. , I \ , i ... .....;.,~ .'" 'l'ABLE OF CONTENTS Page A. INThODUC'l'ION 1 B. SUWlARY 2 C. B.C. SEA\VEEDS AND THE lfiANUFACTUHE OF ALGIN 4 D. THE EXTENT OF THE SEAWEED RESOURCES OF B.C. 9 E. HARVESTING SEAWEED 11 F. HAhVESTING REGULATIONS IN B.C. 16 G. COMPANIES LICENSED TO HAhVEST SEAWEED IN B.C. 19 H. DISCUSSIONS 20 I. REFERENCES 21 APPENDIX A. Survey of Seaweed Beds in B.C. 24 APPENDIX B. Summary Report of Meeting in Halifax, N.S ., April 5-6, 1967 "The Canadian Atlantic Marine Plant Industry 33 A. INTRODUCTION The unused quantities of seaweed observed along the coast of British Columbia have long raised hopes that this resource could be economically harvested and processed. Although the B.C. coast has many species of seaweeds related to those eaten in various parts of the world, no significant use has been made of the local seaweeds for this purpose. The only serious attempt to harvest and process seaweed reported is the Deer Island ven­ ture of Canada Kelp Company Limited which produced a small amount of dried seaweed from 1946 to the time of its closing in 1948. Nei-l interest has been shown by the recent information of ... several companies'" which have obtained licences to harvest sea- weed along the B.C. coast. In view of this interest the Department of Fisheries has requested the B.C. Research Council to prepare a preliminary report on the available literature and the general status of the seaweed industry in British Columbia. The present literature study has been restricted to aspects of the seaweed industry as it seems likely to evolve in British Columbia. However it should be noted that the Nova Scotia Re- search Foundation compiled seven Selective Bibliographies on Algae (1 to 6) between 1952 and 1966. The compilations are very comprehensive and include many references to the chemistry of the seaweed derivatives and to patents related to processing. This report was prepared in the Economics and Market Research Section of the British Columbia Research Council by A.W. Greenius. * Companies listed in Section G of report. - 2 - B. Sm'lMAFtY Six companies have been licensed to harvest seaweed in British Columbia. The chief interest in seaweeds today is in the field of marine colloids for food and industrial uses. The dominant sea- weeds in the waters of B.C. are the algin-bearing kelps Macro- cystis integrifolia and Nereocystis luetkeana. Smaller amounts of the agar-bearing marine plants Gr~cilaria and Gracilariopsis are present. The market for alginates in Canada has not been established but gross sales of seaweed colloids in the United States have been estimated at $10 to ~20 million per year. Although some surveys of the extent of the seaweed beds and the amount of harvestable seaweed of the B.C. coast were carried out before lY15 and in the period 1944 to 1~47, the surveys were not comprehensive. They did establish however that there was probably enough seaweed to justify an alginate industry provided that Nereocystis was used. The kelp harvested for alginates in California is mainly Macrocystis pyrifera. Studies in the 1940's showed that the algin content of Macrocystis and Nereocystis- ranged from 14 to 27 per cent of sodium alginate (dry basis) which appears to be generally within the range of contents found in kelps harvested commercially in other places. The ma~ket acceptability of 'algjnates extracted from local kelps has not been established, however. Although mechanical kelp cutting harvesters have been used successfully on the Ca~ifornia coast for many years it has not been shown that similar kelp cutters will be entirely suitable for tue different conditons of rough seas, rocky shores, and - 3 - inshore seaweed beds of the B.C. coast. The considerable devel- opment work undertaken by the Scottish Seaweed Institute attests to the difficulties in obtaining efficient mechanical harvesters for rocky coasts. It seems likely that much work will be necessary to develop suitable harvesters for the B.C. coast. Storage of ljlet seaweed from a short harvesting season for year-round processing does not appear to be practical and the cost of mechanically drying seaweed for storage will be high. The study briefly discusses the harvestin~ regulations in B.C., designed to ensure proper cutting of the kelp beds. The regulations are generally similar to those in effect in California and to those used in the Tasmania operation several years ago. It is believed that the regulations will protect the seaweed beds from damage. Hm',rever, the effect of harvesting on other marine life is not known and a continuing study would seem to be re­ quired to ensure that no serious ecological disturbance occurs. ,The study of the available literature indicates a lack of information in the following areas: a. The extent and density of the seaweed beds and the amount of physically harvestable seaweed. b. The market for and market acceptability of alginates derived from the B.C. kelps Nereocystis luetkeana and Macrocystis integrifolia. c. The suitability of mechanical harvesters to harvest seaweeds efficiently under west coast conditions. d. The rtstorabilitylT of cut seawepd for year-round pro­ cessing of material cut in a three-month harvesting period 0 8. The eff~':'!ct of harvestin£:; on the marine ecolo~y. - it - C. B.C. SEAWEEDS AND THE MANUFACTUP~ OF ALGIN Although there appears to be a market for soil conditioners and sf'ecialty horticultural fertj.lizers made from seav"eed, and although seaweeds can be used as bulk fertilizers and stuffine materials, these are not considered to be good large-scale end.­ use products from tht"! sea,,,eeds of British Columbia. There is no doubt that thp chief market of interest to seaweed harvesters today is in the field of plant colloids for food and industrial uses. The chief colloid products obta ined from sp.aweeds are carrageenin, B.gar, Clnd algin. Although carraGeenin is a colloid extract much in demand the abundant seaweeds of thA west coast are not sources of this product. Agar may be obtained. from Gracila.rja and Gracilariopsis which Scagel (7) considers to be fairly abundant in British Columbia. However ~3cagel empha.sizes that the amount and distribution of any agar-bearing seaweeds in B.C. have .not been comprehensively determined. The cost of harvesting will undoubtedly prevent it being an economic source for some time. The abundant kelps of Britisil Columbia, however, are potentially importa.nt sources of algin (the general term for \rlater-soluble derivatives of alginic acid). The soluble salts are mainly sodium, 8.mmonj.um, potassium, and propylene glycol alginates and the relatively insoluble salt is calcium alginate. The generally a ccepted structure of alginic acid is tha t of a linear polymer of 1,4 - linked / -D-mannuronic acids with asso­ ciated nonuronide polysaccharides. (8) - 5 - A detailed description of the alginate process is beyond the scope of this study but the following excerpt and production flow diagram from the Sncyclopedia of Chemical Technology, Kirk­ Othmer (9) provides the general principles of manufacture for alginates from the kelps of the Pacific Ooast. "Commercial preparation of algin is based on the prin9iple that the natural 'algin' in the kelp, probably a combin~tion of calcium alginate' anJ alginic acid, is in­ soluble in water, but is easily converted by soda solution into the water-soluble sodium salt. Kelp is therefore digested with s odium carbonate or hydroxide solution, the resulting viscous liquor separated from the residue, and alginic acid subsequently precipitated by the addition of a strong mineral acid. '1'0 facilitate purification and bleaching of the product, some manufacturers adopt an intermediate procedure lnvolving precipitation of calcium alginate prior to the acid precipitation. Since alginic acid is rather unstable, sodium alginate is generally the product manufact.ured. By simply dissolving the acid in sodium carbonate solution, sodium alginate is obtained. Other salts, such as ammonium alginate and calcium alginate, are also prepared commercially. II heference 9 provides additional details. There are un- doubtedly many variations of the process and much technical "know-howlt which determine whether or not a ~,atisfactory product can be made economically. The market for alginates is chiefly in the food industries but a considerable portion of the production is now being used in the rubber, paint, and other non-food industries. Statistics for the annuRl tonnage of algin produced in tne U.S.A. and Canada are not available. In 1954 it was estimated that the United States produced over 2 million pounds. (9) The growth rate of the market for seaweed colloids is high. Idson (10) report.ed in 1956 that tl-1e gross sales of seaweed colloids in 1945 were ;;52 million and in 1955 .p10.3 million. He estimated that gross sales - 6 - in 1975 would be <j)20 million. There were only five major pro­ ducers in the United States in 1956 and none in Canada. Idson lists their outputs as follows: Company: Output, p millions!y:ear 1.