Seaweed farming, a multi-million dollar export industry in the Philippines, is at the centerpiece of a worldwide effort by scientists to better address the outbreak of diseases and pests that are plaguing the farms. With an estimated 116,000 families in the country reliant on seaweed farming, the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center Aquaculture Department (SEAFDEC/AQD), as part of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)-Global Challenge Research Fund (GCRF) GlobalSeaweedStar Project, is working to better understand outbreaks of “ice-ice” disease (IID) and epiphyte infestations in farms which have inflicted losses worth as much as 15 percent of the total seaweed production. According to Joseph Faisan Jr. an associate researcher at SEAFDEC/AQD, IID outbreaks are caused by extreme environmental conditions (temperature, salinity, pH, siltation) and are characterized by the whitening of the seaweed branches, leading to disintegration and decay.

Pagador, J. R. (2020, October 31 - November 1). Disease-afflicted PH seaweed farms see hope with help of scientists. Panay News, pp. 17, 15.