Mexico´s seaweed industry started in the late 50´s, in the Pacific northeast coast of the Baja California peninsula, with the commercial harvesting of Macrocystis pyrifera, Gelidium robustum and Chondracanthus canaliculatus, as sources of phycocolloids. Presently, the use of seaweed in Mexico has diversify to uses such as seaweed extracts for agriculture, balance feed for marine cultivated organisms (abalone and fish) and even small amounts for human consumption. Other species have been harvested to produce phycocolloids (Gracilaria-Gracilariopsis, C. squarrulosus) and for new applications (Eisenia, Laminaria, Pyropia). Practically all the seaweed use for these products is harvested from natural beds which have decreased in a combination of higher demand and climate change. The efforts to develop the necessary studies for seaweed cultivation started in the mid-eighties.
In the early nineties and following the success of the commercial cultivation of Gracilaria in Chile, Mexico was part of a Latin-American initiative, supported by FAO, to promote the interest on seaweed cultivation in the region. By the mid-nineties, the first papers in methods for seaweed cultivation appeared. Many studies on the ecology and reproductive biology on the species of commercial interest were published simultaneously.
At the end of the 90’s, a program for the cultivation of the Atlantic algae Chondrus crispus cultivation in ponds was tested for the first time and cultivation in the sea was developed using plastic mesh tubes. Both culture methods were tested with another red algae species such as C. squarrulosus, G lemaneiformis, Pyropia perforata. Following the basic methodologies proposed in the literature for the cultivation of kelps, in a program focused on the development of integrated aquaculture, experimental cultures studies for Macrocystis pyrifera and E. arborea were tested in several sites along the temperate Pacific coast of Baja California. These studies evidenced the possibility to develop the commercial cultivation of kelps in this region. However, it was not until 2016 that the cultivation of Ulva spp, for human consumption, at a commercial pilot level in ponds, justified the establishment of the first commercial cultivation farm Currently, about 120 wet tons per year are produced commercially. Production is continuous throughout the year. On the other hand, commercial trails for kelp cultivation in the ocean have initiated. Although the production of seaweeds in Mexico through aquaculture is still small, its possibility of growth, both onshore and offshore, are promising due to optimal oceanographic, geographic, and economic conditions