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Abstract:
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The importance of marine algae, often referred to
as seaweeds, has been felt over a long time and is
appreciated more and more in modern times. The economic
value of marine algae is understood both indirectly and
directly. The indirect benefit is due to the role of marine
phytoplankton as well as the benthic macrophyte biomass
along the shore and in the continental shelf, in primary
production of the sea. Direct benefit includes the use of
marine algae as food, feed, fertilizer and as source of
various products of commercial importance such as agar and
alginic acid. Hence to understand the potential resources of
seaweeds, their distribution, density, standing crop and
interrelated environmental parameters, a detailed study
(survey and ecological work) was carried out for a period of
20 months from August 1988 to March 1990 in South Andaman,
North Andaman, Middle Andaman, Havelock, Neil, Car Nicobar,
Terassa, Chowra and Bumpoka islands. However in South
Andaman, data were collected from five fixed stations
fortnightly during this period for the purpose of modelling
and system analysis. |