Development of Seaweed Farming Systems for New Nori and Dulse Aquaculture Crops.

The potential for marine-based plant aquaculture (seaweed) in the US is immense but the nascent industry remains stalled at low value brown kelp crops. Springtide Seaweed a leading aquaculture innovator is developing turnkey nori and dulse red seaweed cultivation solutions that leverage key partnerships with W.L. Gore & Associates Inc. refined nursery and farm technologies and significant market opportunities to enable the cultivation of new high-value red seaweed crops for sustainable economic opportunities and aquaculture diversification. Phase I successfully supported the critical nursery work for reliable production of dulse and nori seed laying the groundwork for commercial nursery production of seed. Phase II will refine nursery and farm seaweed cultivation systems for commercialization optimizing three dimensional designs and advanced growing substrates targeted to dulse and nori crops. Research and development objectives include: 1) Refine nursery technologies and designs for efficient scalable seed production; 2) Develop and test cultivation substrates for successful seed production and farm cultivation; 3) Design and test four cultivation system designs on the farm for dulse and nori crops; and 4) Develop sustainable business strategies for all phases of innovation development. Commercialization of cultivation systems will take a three-phase approach: (1) growth of new crops for Springtide; (2) seeded substrates and systems for other farms; and (3) full seaweed farm cultivation system solutions for the global aquaculture industry. New turnkey seaweed aquaculture systems will increase sustainability and efficiency in the industry reduce gear and crop failure and enable high-value red seaweeds to be easily integrated into existing aquaculture industries including shellfish finfish and seaweed farms worldwide. These new technologies will enhance the knowledge and technology base necessary for the expansion of the domestic aquaculture industry as a form of production agriculture. 1