Seaweed and the plethora of commercial products derived from seaweed form the pillars of the economy of many countries, such as Japan, China, Indonesia, Philippines, among others. Seaweed derived products are essential in the food & beverage, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, agricultural and many other industrial sectors. The world market for the seaweed industry has an estimated total annual value of more than US$ 7 billion (FAO, 2010), growing at a rate of about 15% annually. The main importers are the developed countries, US and Europe. Major exporters include China, Japan, Indonesia, Philippines and some Latin American countries such as Chile and Peru. The absence of Africa as a major player in this market is recognized, though seaweed production and commercialization has been reported in Zanzibar and Madagascar to some extent. This is an indication of a potential African niche market. Mauritius is a Small Island Developing State with limited land resources but with an extensive Exclusive Economic Zone of about 2.3 million km2. Despite the reported presence of 435 species of seaweeds in Mauritius and Rodrigues and the potential market for seaweed derived products, no local research has been conducted to investigate the commercial exploitation of these resources. Hence the initiative of the MRC to set-up a research programme to investigate the potential of developing an economically, technically and environmentally viable seaweed industry in Mauritius and Rodrigues. The National relevance of this programme is emphasized by section 195 of the Government Programme 2010-2015 which states that ‘the Cultivation of Seaweed with a view to developing an Industry based on Value-added transformation of seaweed for human consumption, cosmetic application, medical and pharmaceutical research’ will be conducted.