Seaweeds as a promising resource for blue economy development in Tunisia: current state, opportunities, and challenges

Abstract

Many western countries show an increased interest in using algae in several sectors such as human food and animal feed, nutraceuticals, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, agriculture, or bioenergy. Biomass of marine origin, and especially seaweed, is a key element for blue growth and is expected to contribute to the development of the growing European blue economy. Several Research and Development and Research and Innovation Projects result in the establishment of an emerging seaweed aquaculture in the Northern European countries. However, macroalgal cultivation and bioprocessing is still scarce in the Mediterranean area, particularly in Tunisia, where seaweeds are abundant on its coast, they remain little exploited. Ongoing projects from different research institutes focus on biological activities of macroalgae, the extraction of active compounds, and the potential uses as phycocolloids, pigments, lipids, and bioactive metabolites characterization as well as bioproduct enhancement. The results of these investigations demonstrate that macroalgae from the Tunisian coasts are a source of valuable compounds and that they can be used as a natural renewable resource suitable for a large array of industrial applications. Further to this, specific research activities on seaweed cultivation have been conducted particularly for Gracilaria and Ulva. In this paper, we highlight the potential of the seaweed sector in Tunisia in terms of biodiversity, cultivation, and bioprocessing and discuss the challenges in various sectors, i.e., biology, building capacity, technology, or policy, that currently hinder the expansion of a sustainable Tunisian seaweed industry.