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.