Marine Biotechnology in Indian Ocean islands

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Madagascar

The National Oceanographic Data Centre at the University of Toliara is involved in the protection of coastal reefs and marine biodiversity assessment in south-western Madagascar and bio-ecological surveys to facilitate the development of a sustainable marine park in the Masaola area in the north-east. The Data Centre records include almost 6,500 records of corals, diatoms, dinoflagellates, invertebrates and fish. The University of Antananarivo is working on photobioreactor culture of microalgae for bioremediation, biomolecules and Bioenergy; organisms mentioned include Chlorella, Spirulina, Porphyridium and other species .

Madagascar is the Earth’s 4th largest island and its marine resources seem to be particularly rich in diversity and attract collaborative international projects, such as The Sea Around Us (University of British Columbia), examining use and abuse of fish resources; Biodiversity conservation and drug discovery in Madagascar (University of Maryland supported by NIH International Cooperative Biodiversity Group $4.5M 2008-2013); and collection of algae and cyanobacteria by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography Center for Marine Biotechnology and Biomedicine.

Mauritius

In 2003, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Technology and Natural Resources proposed the Mauritius Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (MABI), with a budget of Rs. 360M, expected to start operating in 2008. Whether this includes marine biotechnology is not known.

Disclaimer

This draft country profile is based on available online information sources and contributions from various country experts and stakeholders. It does not aim nor claim to be complete or final, but should be considered as a dynamic and living information resource that will be elaborated, updated and improved as more information becomes available, including further inputs from experts and stakeholders.

The information on this page is based on information initially compiled by Meredith Lloyd-Evans (BioBridge) as part of the CSA MarineBiotech Project activities (2011-2013).