Considering the number of projects proposed for investment in the aquaculture sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the current trends in the country to support this sector, marine algae gained significant environmental and economic importance due to the role they play in maintaining the ecological balance in nature and economy, as well as the promising future of algae in the industrial areas associated with food, drugs, chemicals and medical preparations, and recently, bio-fuel production.

There is a major trend among the concerned authorities in the Kingdom, including the Ministry of Agriculture, the Saudi Aquaculture Society and the research bodies, such as the universities and the scientific research centers to promote the research and technologies associated with the production of algae in the Kingdom to take advantage of the favorable environmental conditions.

H.E. the Deputy Minister for Fisheries /engineer/ Jaber Al-Shihri,  in an exclusive interview with one of the television stations specialized in economic news, highlighted the importance of the potential production of algae in the kingdom. He added that research on the production of algae started since the year 1407 H at the Fish Farming Center in Jeddah (Fisheries Research Center in Jeddah) to produce strains of microalgae for use in marine fish feed.

H.E. also shed some light on the potential uses of algae and future trends to incorporate algae into the food and drug industries, whether to humans or animals; in addition to the production of fertilizers, medical preparations and cosmetics. More recently, global studies began on the use of algae, in the production of bio-fuel.

Furthermore, His Excellency focused on the environmental aspects and the major role played by algae in the production of oxygen and consumption of carbon dioxide and its impact in reducing the phenomenon of the global warming. He indicated that recent efforts have succeeded in launching the first commercial project for the production of algae in the National Aquaculture Group in Lith, on the Saudi Red Sea coast, with an estimated initial production capacity of about 3,000 metric tonnes, with e to start production on 2014.

He pointed out that the current focusing on algae is due to their use as raw materials in the formation of safe and high-protein components to be incorporated in the production of fish feed to fulfill the needs of the feed industry in the Kingdom; together with the launching of the National Strategy for the development of the aquacultural sector which aims at increasing fish production to about 1.0 million tonnes by the year 2029

The complete interview with H.E. the Deputy Minister of Fisheries Affairs is found on the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U80n9RKy0xw