According to Chamberlain (1997)
the Japanese seaweed company Horichi Co. Ltd. in Fukuoka, in collaboration with H. Tanaka,
previously the FAO’s Chief Technical Advisor to the FAO’s South Pacific Aquaculture Development
Project, has a patent pending that does not use chemical dips, but that works by restricting the
chemical messenger system that causes shrinkage of the thalli, possibly by using a plant hormone
such as metilen chloride to dissolve steroid receptor cells.