The Training Course on Tissue Culture Technique for Supplying Cottonii Seaweed Seedlings was conducted via the ZOOM Online Meeting application on 2-3 June 2021. A total of 10 participants attended this training. They came from 5 different countries in Southeast Asia, i.e., Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Bangladesh.

Ms. Shirlene Maria Anthonysamy, Director of INFOFISH welcomed the participants. In her welcome remarks, she explained that as an intergovernmental organization providing marketing information and technical advisory services to the fishery industry in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond, INFOFISH is the main source of marketing support for fish producers and exporters in the Asia-Pacific region. Through this training course, she believes that the participants will be greatly benefited, having the experts share their expertise and experiences on tissue culture technology for seaweed seedlings procurement.

The training course was officially opened by Dr Zulhamsyah Imran. In his opening remarks, Dr Zulhamsyah mentioned that SEAMEO BIOTROP’s mandates as a regional research center for tropical biology are to conduct research, training, as well as knowledge and information dissemination. Furthermore, Dr Zulhamsyah explained that SEAMEO BIOTROP has been developing tissue culture technology for more than 10 years, under the Manufacture Innovation Department led by Dr Erina Sulistiani. Since 2013, SEAMEO BIOTROP has been collaborating with the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries of the Republic of Indonesia to implement research results and to produce seaweed cottonii seedlings to overcome the unavailability of superior seaweed seedlings.

This initial collaboration between SEAMEO BIOTROP and INFOFISH aims to enhance the visibility of seaweed tissue culture technology, to be applied in the future to improve the welfare of seaweed producers in the Asia-Pacific region.

The two-day event covered four topics presented by Dr Erina Sulistiani, i.e., Tissue Culture Techniques for Producing Plant and Cottonii Seaweed Seedlings; Facilities, Required Equipment and Aseptic Condition; and the Making of Culture Media for Cottonii Seaweed Tissue Culture.