Abstract
More than 50% of the UK coastline is situated in Scotland under legislative jurisdiction; therefore, there is a great opportunity for regionally focused economic development by the rational use of sustainable marine bio-sources. We review the importance of seaweeds in general, and more specifically, wrack brown seaweeds which are washed from the sea and accumulated in the wrack zone and their economic impact. Rules and regulations governing the harvesting of seaweed, potential sites for harvesting, along with the status of industrial application are discussed. We describe extraction and separation methods of natural products from these seaweeds along with their phytochemical profiles. Many potential applications for these derivatives exist in agriculture, energy, nutrition, biomaterials, waste treatment (composting), pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and other applications. The chemical diversity of the natural compounds present in these seaweeds is an opportunity to further investigate a range of chemical scaffolds, evaluate their biological activities, and develop them for better pharmaceutical or biotechnological applications. The key message is the significant opportunity for the development of high value products from a seaweed processing industry in Scotland, based on a sustainable resource, and locally regulated.
Highlights
Research and development efforts to harvest all forms of Scottish renewable resources are supported by many stakeholders
We present an overview of an economically important group of the seaweeds: the brown seaweeds that live attached to rocks and are widely distributed in Scotland
The polar extracts extracted by water and ethanol from five rock seaweeds (F. vesiculosus, F. serratus, F. spiralis, A. nodosum, P. canaliculata) have α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibitory activities that decreased the glycaemic response
Summary
Research and development efforts to harvest all forms of Scottish renewable resources are supported by many stakeholders. We present an overview of an economically important group of the seaweeds: the brown seaweeds that live attached to rocks and are widely distributed in Scotland. Their harvesting, chemical derivatives, and uses will be discussed. Macroalgae are organisms living in aquatic environments; they use the light to produce energy, and they are macroscopic, multicellular organisms [1] living independently or with other organisms When they inhabit seas, they are resistant to harsh environmental conditions, and they can adapt themselves to live in different salinity, pH, and water depths [2,3,4,5]. The phytochemical composition and some of the important secondary metabolites produced by seaweed are described and discussed
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