Seaweed
Seaweed or macroalgae refers to several species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of red, brown, and green macroalgae. Marine algae species such as kelps provide essential nursery habitat for fisheries and other marine species and thus protect food sources; ocean algae species from seaweeds to planktons play a vital role in carbon capture, producing up to 90 percent of the planet's oxygen. Understanding these roles provides guiding principles for conservation and sustainable use of seaweeds to take precedence over industrial exploitation. Mechanical dredging of kelp, for instance, destroys the resource and dependent fisheries. Certain species of seaweed are valuable for nutrition, biomedicine, bioremediation, and other uses.
Ocean storage of carbon dioxide
In order to mitigate global warming, seaweed farming is both a possible and plausible way. This method was adopted in early ocean algae proposals to mitigate global warming. This is done through commercial kelp farms designed to take up tens of thousands of square kilometres of the open ocean. Through this method, seaweed beds will perform as an effective sinks by decreasing the level of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) in the ocean.
Seaweeds do the above by removing carbon through the process of photosynthesis, taking in excess CO2 and producing O2. Facts and figures have shown that 0.7 million tonnes of carbon are removed from the sea each year by commercially harvested seaweeds. Even though seaweed biomass is small as compared to the coastal region. They remain essential due to their biotic components, the ability to provide valuable ecosystem services and high primary productivity. Seaweeds are different from mangroves and seagrasses, they are photosynthetic algal organisms and non-flowering. Even so, they are primary producers that grows in the same way as their terrestrial counterparts, both of which assimilate carbon by the process of photosynthesis and generates new biomass by taking up phosphorus, nitrogen, and other minerals.