http://www.mdidea.com/products/proper/proper082research.html
The above website link details research data on seaweed's nutrient value for medicine and food.
The idea that people could be living close to the cures for their maladies and nutrient deficiencies and be in ignorance of this is unsettling. Yet if the water is contaminated and people consume the harvest of the sea, the effect on health could be negative. Every human activity on or near the ocean has a consequence for the bio resource.