Seaweed is abundant along the coast. However, it has not been widely used. If used optimally, it has the potential to increase incomes of coastal communities and fishermen. So far, seaweed is only used as food additives, vegetables and traditional medicine.
In the last five years, lecturer from the Department of Fisheries, Faculty of Agriculture UGM, Dr. Alim Isnansetyo, succeeded in developing alginate compounds from brown seaweed (Sargassum polycystum) as an immunostimulant or immune system enhancer for fish. “We have tested it on catfish and shrimp and the results are quite good,” Alim Isnansetyo said after participating as a keynote speaker in a meeting attended by fisheries and marine researchers at the International Symposium on Marine and Fisheries Research (ISMFR) on Tuesday (9/7) at the Alana Hotel Convention Center Yogyakarta.
Alim said his research had been conducted in the last five years and is currently in the process of patenting. Brown seaweed or brown algae is chosen because it is easy to grow in coastal areas. These biological natural resources contain many bioactive compounds and polysaccharides. “Bioactive materials and polysaccharides are quite high, alginate compounds are often used as thickening agents in the food industry and dental printing materials in the medical field,” he said.
The use of alginate as an immunostimulant in fish and shrimp bodies, according to him, is quite effective, because based on experiments that have been carried out the application of immunostimulant can increase fish immune system by eighty percent, causing them to survive much longer. “Those not given (the immunostimulant) have only a survival rate of up to 30 percent,” he said.
In this research the immunostimulant from brown seaweed is made in the form of powder mixed in fish feed. “This year we will try it on snapper fish,” he said.
In addition to alginate compounds, he combines derivatives from compound substances contained in seaweed which is now developed as an ingredient for anti-cancer. “We’re looking for other compounds for anti-cancer,” he said.
The symposium held by the Department of Fisheries UGM every two years is attended by more than 158 researchers from Indonesia, China, Japan, and the Philippines. On the 3rd ISMFR, 98 people delivered paper presentations and 40 people presented posters. Eight main speakers were from Indonesia, China, Korea, Malaysia and Thailand. (UGM Public Relations / Gusti Grehenson)
