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Blue biotechnology: a vision for future marine biorefineries 477

21.8 Hurdles in blue biotechnology

The blue biotechnology sources comprise marine bacteria, invertebrates, algae, fungi,
etc. so far has offered valuable commodities, including enzymes, pharmaceuticals, bio-
materials, nutraceuticals, and cosmetics. Moreover, novel applications, including antican-
cer properties, adhesives, feed additives for farm animal and aquaculture, and
bioremediation, are being continuously developed. In spite of the tremendous potential
of blue biotechnology the sector has not been completely exploited. There are various
reasons attributed to the above problem. One of the main bottlenecks is the difficulty in
the sampling of marine species. Moreover, some of the sampling methods are highly
expensive. Although samples with potential species are obtained, the cultivation method-
ology is not well established. For example, many marine microbes fail to grow in agar
gel plates, a foremost technique for isolation and maintenance of microbial species.
The government has to play a prominent role in funding innovative solutions to over-
come problems associated with sampling and cultivation. Apart from sampling and culti-
vation, another hurdle is the sea-related territorial disputes posed by different countries.
As a result, the problem of conflict in property rights and confusion in benefit sharing
occurs. Moreover, certain areas that are beyond the control of a nation still remain to be
explored. In such areas, the status of marine biodiversity is not clear leading to failure in
tapping potential genetic resources. Even though several promising marine products
have been identified through various research and development programs so far, the ulti-
mate goal of commercialization is still to be achieved in many cases. This is mainly due
to the high risk associated with investments in the blue biotechnology sector and also
lack of coordination between public research and private investors.

21.9 Perspectives and outlook

The diversity in the marine environment is huge. It has been estimated that the total
number of species living on the sea is roughly 7 million, whereas land is only 1 mil-
lion. Compared to terrestrial bioresources, marine ones are shown to display high
activity, new properties, and new mechanisms of action. In addition, greater taxo-
nomic biodiversity is found in marine bioresources than the counterpart. But our
current knowledge on marine diversity is very low. This reinforces the importance
of exploration of seas and oceans. In order to exploit this untapped resources, huge
funding is required to perform expedition, screening of species, cultivation of spe-
cies in the lab, product isolation, efficacy/product establishment, trials in animals
and subsequently humans in the case of pharmaceutics, etc. Therefore, the govern-
ment should provide adequate financial support and infrastructure for all the depart-
ments related to marine product development. Moreover, research groups have to
provide innovative sampling and screening procedures to access new marine spe-
cies. In addition, the availability of legislation and guidelines to protect marine,
coastal, and estuary environment can further strengthen the blue biotechnology
sector.