ANALYSIS OF SEAWEED CULTURE 

 IN JAPAN 



Although the Japanese are still encountering many 

 problems in optimizing the culture of the several 

 species of marine algae, they are able to produce 

 nearly as much as they need. Their real problems of 

 the future appear to lie in the fields of I ) undesirable 

 pollution, 2) oversupply with its resultant lowering 

 of price, and 3) idealizing the labor situation (im- 

 proved working conditions, keeping wages and pro- 

 fits in line with other industries in Japan, keeping 

 sufficient workers in the industry and finding ac- 

 ceptable employment for any excess over that 

 which is needed, etc.). 



Many of the techniques developed in Japan could 

 be used by U.S. industry, but we face many problems 

 which the Japanese do not. Our labor costs are al- 

 ready so high that nearly all seaweed farming in the 

 United States would have to be essentially totally 

 mechanized. Since the principal uses of seaweed in 

 America are for nonfood purposes, the price paid for 

 raw material will remain quite low. It is very 

 doubtful that the public will allow the surface of our 

 coastal water to be covered with a bambo-net type 

 system used for Porphyra except in some very re- 

 mote areas, such as in southeastern Alaska or on 

 U.S. controlled islands. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 



FURUKAWA. A. 



1971. OutlineofthemarineaquacultureinJapan.Jap. Fish. 

 Res. Conserv. Assoc. 



HASEGAWA. Y. 



1972. Forced cultivation of l.iiniimiria. In I'roc. Seventh 

 Internatl. Seaweed Symp., Sapporo. Japan. Aug. 8-12. 

 1971, p. 391-.'!9.'!. Univ. Tokyo Press. 



IMADA. O., Y. SAITO, and K. TERAMOTO. 



1972. Artificialcultureof laver. //I Proc. Seventh Internatl. 

 Seaweed Symp., Sapporo. Japan, Aug. 8-12. 1971, p. 

 .^58-363. Univ. Tol<yo Press. 



ISHIO, S., T. YANO, and H. NAKAUAWA. 



1 972. Cancerous disease of Porphyra tenera and its causes. 

 In Proc. Seventh Internatl. Seaweed Symp., Sapporo, 

 Japan, Aug. 8-12, 1971, p. 373-376. Univ. Tokyo Press. 



OKAZAKl. A. 



1971. Seaweeds and their uses in Japan. Tokai Univ. Press, 

 165 p. 



SAITO, Y. 



1971 . On the effects of environmental factors on morpholog- 

 ical characteristics of Undaria pinnalij'ula and the breed- 

 ing of hybrids among the genus Undaria. Seminar on the 

 Contributions of Culture, Laboratory, Field and Life His- 

 tory Studies to the Systematics of Benthic Marine Algae 

 of the Pacific Abstracts, Jap. -U.S. Comm. on Sci. Coop., 

 p. 18-19. 



SUTO, S. 



1971. Variation in species characters of Porphyra under cul- 

 ture condition. Seminar on the Contributions of Culture, 

 Laboratory, Field and Life History Studies to the Sys- 

 tematics of Benthic Marine Algae of the Pacific Ab- 

 stracts. Jap. -U.S. Comm. on Sci. Coop., p. 28-29. 



TAMURA.T. 



1966. Marine aquaculture. 2nd ed. (Translated from the 

 Japanese by M. I. Watanabe, p. C-1 — A2-30; available 

 U.S. Dep. Commer.. Natl. Tech Inf. Serv.. Springfield. 

 VA. as PBI94051T.) 



YAMADA. N. 



1972. Manuring for Gelidium. In Proc. Seventh Internatl. 

 Seaweed Symp., Sapporo, Japan, Aug. 8-12, 1971. p. 385- 

 390. Univ. Tokyo Press, 



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