Marine macroalgae of the Agulhas Marine Province of South Africa: Biodiversity, exploitation and potential for aquaculture

Abstract

The Agulhas Marine Province (AMP) extends along most of the south coast of South Africa, from Cape Agulhas to the vicinity of the Mbashe River mouth in the Eastern Cape Province, and has its own distinctive warm-temperate seaweed flora, with high levels of diversity and endemism. Seaweed floras are excellent indicators of seawater temperature regimes and therefore very useful in studies of climate change. We provide new analyses of seawater temperatures for 50-km sections along this coast and discuss them in relation to upwelling mechanisms, with particular focus on Algoa Bay. The biogeography of the South African south coast/AMP seaweed flora is placed in a southern African context, and patterns of endemism are discussed. Commercial harvesting has involved only intertidal collection of Gelidium pristoides, but other species may have commercial potential. Seaweed aquaculture on this coast is currently limited to shore-based cultivation as abalone feed, but the potential for sea-based seaweed cultivation is discussed, with particular reference to Algoa Bay and the declared Algoa Bay Aquaculture Development Zone.