Wednesday, 22 September 2010

IN PHOTOS: Seaweed Farming's Underwater Bumper Crop

IN PHOTOS: Seaweed Farming's Underwater Bumper Crop

The Current
Malaysia’s recent announcement that it would invest millions into researching new seaweed products, from health products to restaurant items, brought the aquatic plant’s versatility back into the spotlight. With Ireland, a traditional seaweed leader, and a major Norwegian oil company investing, the watery plant may be the product of the future.
After all, seaweed can be turned into fuelmade into cars and could possibly be the best dietary drug ever.
But where does it come from? Well… seaweed farms, of course.

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A Balinese farmer cultivates a bed of seaweed. (Photo: jumhullot/Creative Commons)

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Seaweed farmers in Bali tend to to their crops. (Photo: Yusuf Ahmed Tawil/Reuters)

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Seaweed farmer Nyafu Juma Uledi tends her crop in a tidal pool on Zanzibar Island in Tanzania, which exports thousands of tons of the greenery to Asia annually. (Photo: Finbarr O'Reilly/Reuters)

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Farmers guide boats through fields of laver, a type of seaweed, in Fujan Province, China. (Photo: Getty Images)

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A boy walks along the edge of a seaweed farm in Bali, Indonesia. Climate change and rising sea levels threaten many farms in the region. (Photo: Sonny Tumbelaka/AFP/Getty Images)

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Two boats filled with seaweed head for a market in the Philippines. (Photo: Stringer/Reuters)

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