Silje Forbord is Research Manager at SINTEF Oceans. Silje has 15 years' seaweed cultivation experience from land-based hatchery and field work, including integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA). She holds a PhD in cultivation of sugar kelp with focus on nitrogen uptake kinetics, growth characteristics and chemical composition.
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SINTEF Ocean is an independent research organisation based in Norway, which over the past 15 years has conducted around 60 projects on various aspects of seaweed cultivation and utilization.
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[08:30] Producing seaweed biomass that nobody wants to buy.
[09:25] The equipment you can’t buy in store
[10:20] How funding availability influences which research projects are pursued.
[12:35] Upscaling and why the seaweed industry is not profitable, yet.
[13:55] Need to pay more attention to finding the right location for seaweed farming.
[17:25] Coastal farming Vs. Offshore farming.
[20:50] Innovation needed to achieve upscaling.
[25:10] Cost is holding back faster progress.
[26:50] Market development has been overlooked.
[28:40] Year-round supply and diversification into different species.
[32:20] What can we learn from Asia? Is there enough collaboration?
[36:40] Seagriculture Conference EU.
[39:20] Integrated Multi-trophic Aquaculture.
[46:40] Areas where more research is needed.
[48:00] Final thoughts.
Useful Links: Silje Forbord on LinkedIn
SINTEF Ocean: Website, LinkedIn
Seagriculture Conferece EU - June 21st and 22nd 2023 in Trondheim, Norway. (Follow on LinkedIn)
Fionnuala Quin is the Founder CEO of Kelpy, a start-up working to create a reliable and ethical bioplastic replacement for the single use packaging items currently choking our oceans worldwide.
The daughter of a fisherman, Fionnuala is no stranger to aquaculture and its challenges. Her positive vision of the future is not just driven by her determination to create a positive impact, but it is also supported by a deep understanding of the industry and what it takes to succeed with a seaweed business.
Some of the key points covered in our conversation are as follows:
- How to choose the right product among the wide range of seaweed applications
- How to bring innovation in an emerging and disruptive industry
- Market research and validating a business idea
- The importance of market pull to get out of the lab and drive positive outcomes
- Finding the right partners to build the business
- Climate change and the seaweed industry: Fionnuala’s vision for the future
- The role of seaweed bioplastics and using the soil as a carbon sink
Useful Links:
The Paradox of Choice, Barry Schwartz: book and Ted Talk
Liz MacDonald is the Seaweed Supply and Advancement Manager at Atlantic Sea Farms. Liz has been farming the Gulf of Maine (US) since 2016, cultivating native mussels, scallops and kelp. Her detailed and practical knowledge of seaweed production is absolutely incredible.
Liz has collaborated with researchers and is a published author in multiple scientific journals, presenting her research nationally. She is responsible for Atlantic Sea Farms’ farming partnerships and helps a growing community of ocean farmers.
In this very informative episode, she painted an in-depth picture of seaweed supply on the east coast of the United States. This included:
- Learnings from on-the-job experience
- Practical tips as a seaweed farmers
- Trainings paths to become a seaweed farmer and learning resources
- Best practices and equipment out on the farm
- Costs and challenges associated with farming
- Processing and logistics
- Opportunities for innovation
- Social and environmental considerations
Useful Links:
Liz MacDonald on LinkedIn
Atlantic Sea Farms: Website, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook
Gulf of Maine Research Institute - Aquaculture Projects
University of Maine
Sea Grant
Is the era of automation and AI coming to the seaweed industry?
I try to answer this question in my conversation with one of the pioneers of automation and mechanisation in the sector.
Here is a short trailer of this episode: click here
Among the many topics discussed on this episode, here are some that you might find really interesting:
- New technologies to disrupt the seaweed industry
- Principles and strategies behind a serial entrepreneur and how products and services are brought to market
- Seaweed stabilisation and secondary processing
- Automation and mechanisation in seaweed farming
- Using data and AI to reduce risk and operational cost whilst increasing the quality and quantity of the biomass
- Drastically reducing the time required for obtaining a seaweed farming licence
- The learnings from experiencing the war in Ukraine
It has been an absolute eye opener for me to hear the insights and thoughts Morten shared during our chat, I hope you will enjoy it.
Useful Links:
Morten Kroslid on Linkedin
Sirputis: Website, Linkedn, Facebook and Insagram
SoftSeaweed: Website and LinkedIn
Morten Kroslid's Bio:
Morten Kroslid is CEO of Sirputis, a company providing equipment for seaweed cultivation and processing. He is also Co-Founder of SoftSeaweed, a software solution developed to make seaweed farming businesses more sustainable and profitable. Morten studied Business and Economics in his native Norway and went on, over the years, to become the founder or co-founder of more than 20 start-ups in several different countries. In the last few years he's focused on innovation aimed at enabling the growth of the seaweed industry globally.
Joost Wouters is the Founder & SeaEO of The Seaweed Company. We started our conversation by unpacking the milestones of his journey from a corporate career to becoming an entrepreneur “hooked on seaweed” and on a mission to “make seaweed visible”.
Among the many topics discussed on this episode, here are some that you might find really interesting:
- The need to step up professionalisation in the industry to get out of the “hobby” area, appreciating the value that you are providing to help grow from a cottage industry to establishing a competent and credible industry.
- The mindset of starting a company as a platform, open to true collaboration and to partnering with like-minded people that want to work with seaweed.
- The value of cooperation to grow hand-in-hand. Evolving the market rather than blocking the speed of innovation by protecting IP. Changing the attitude and learning to share failure.
- Biorefining and how this area may develop in the future.
- Biggest challenges to overcome, such as producing seaweed biomass on shore below a certain price.
- Scaling production in a way that works with nature.
- The benefits of using biostimulants and animal feed supplement.
- Reconnecting with the source and the other living beings around us, removing the barrier between human being and nature.
Useful Links:
Joost Wouters on LinkedIn
The Seaweed Company: Website, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram.
Joost Wouters' Bio:
Joost started his professional career in the corporate world, working at Proctor & Gamble first, to then join the management team of PepsiCo. Following the urge to become more independent, he decided to start a management consulting firm, working with the leadership teams of large and small companies such as Danone, Unilever, Heineken and Reckitt Benckiser, in places all over the world. After a year spent travelling in the USA with his family, he moved to Spain, where he built a house and Leadership Centre at the Mediterranean. Ten years later he returned to The Netherlands to continue his journey to contribute to a liveable future for the generations to come by implementing carbon positive seaweed solutions with The Seaweed Company. Farming seaweed all over the globe to support the health & wellbeing of humans, animals, crops and soils.
This episode covers all things wild harvesting, as I am joined by Peter Elbourne from SHORE Seaweed.
We took a very insightful deep dive into the advantages and disadvantages of wild harvesting and looked at the differences when compared to seaweed farming. Peter’s extraordinary experience allowed us to go into detail and discuss both the technical/operational side (e.g. access to different species, site selection, etc.) and the differences in terms economical and business management aspects (e.g. costs, product development options, competitive advantage). We also looked at the possible role of wild harvesting for the future of the industry, with particular focus on sustainability.
Useful Links:
Peter Elbourne on LinkedIn
SHORE Seaweed's website
SHORE on Instagram
SHORE on Twitter
SHORE on Facebook
Peter Elbourne's bio:
Peter Elbourne is Managing Director of Supply and Operations at New Wave Foods. Trading as SHORE Seaweed, the company is a leading harvester, farmer and processor in Scotland. They supply organic seaweed direct to businesses for a wide range of applications and create innovative food products under their breakthrough retail brand SHORE. Peter trained as a marine biologist, completing his BSc at Bangor in North Wales and his PhD at Newcastle. He worked in community sustainability projects over a number of years. A consultancy project on business development led to the original idea to process seaweed in 2012. He began working full-time on seaweed in 2015 when the company was founded. He lives in the Highlands, roughly in between the company’s wild harvest sites in Caithness in the far north of Scotland and their farm site in Argyll on the West Coast.
Bren Smith is the industry pioneer behind "Eat Like A Fish - My adventures as a fisherman turned restorative ocean farmer". A former commercial fisherman, Bren went through a journey of ecological redemption by turning into a regenerative ocean farmer, and co-founder of the non-profit GreenWave - a global network of farmers, entrepreneurs, and researchers, focused on building community-based climate solutions out at sea, through collaboration and innovation. Check out Bren's full bio below.
In this episode, Bren takes me through his thoughts, mistakes and experience. From the political to the extremely technical, from the huge obstacles to the amazing opportunities, he paints an exciting vision for the future of the seaweed industry.
The conversation covers several topics, including pollution farming, climate change, economic inequality, the Wall Street framework of the unicorn, creating a story for the new era, the solution movement, the role of individuals, the economic models and technical innovation.
Useful Links:
Eat Like a Fish: My Adventures Farming the Ocean to Fight Climate Change
GreenWave
GreenWave: Regenerative Ocean Farming Hub
GreenWave: Regenerative Ocean Farming Hub - GET STARTED
www.insideseaweed.com
Mastermind Group: www.insideseaweed.com/group
Bren Smith's full bio:
Bren Smith, GreenWave Co-Executive Director and Owner of Thimble Island Ocean Farm, pioneered the development of regenerative ocean farming. A lifelong commercial fisherman, he was named one of Rolling Stone magazine’s “25 People Shaping the Future” and featured in TIME magazine’s “Best Inventions of 2017”. Bren is the winner of the Buckminster Fuller Prize and the Curt Bergfors Food Planet Prize and has been profiled by 60 Minutes, CNN, The New Yorker, Wall Street Journal, National Geographic, and elsewhere. He is an Ashoka, Castanea, and Echoing Green Climate Fellow and James Beard Award-winning author of Eat Like a Fish: My Adventures Farming the Ocean to Fight Climate Change.
Welcome back to another episode, where this time we hear from Amabel Hamilton, Co-founder and Director at GreenSea Solutions Ltd.
During our conversation, Amabel paints a really promising and detailed picture of producing fertiliser from sugar kelp (Saccharina latissima), the exciting environmental benefits and the potential that this holds for the future of the seaweed industry.
Useful Links:
GreenSea Solutions' website
GreenSea Solutions on LinkedIn
Amabel Hamilton on Linkedin
Tangled Greens' website
Tangled Greens on Instagram
Books (mentioned during the episodes):
Eat Like A Fish by Bren Smith - My adventures as a fisherman turned restorative ocean farmer.
Amabel Hamilton's bio:
Amabel co-founded GreenSea Solutions, one of Scotland’s foremost seaweed farming companies, in 2018. Prior to this, she worked in publishing and spent time as a Researcher at a London think-tank, writing policy recommendations on sustainable issues including green energy and housing solutions. Following a successful first two seasons developing their farm system in Loch Sunart, Ardnamurchan, GreenSea Solutions will relaunch this Autumn under the new name Atlantic Mariculture, signifying the company’s progression to become the UK’s leading producer of organic seaweed fertiliser, made solely using kelp cultivated in Scotland.
In an episode entirely dedicated to newcomers to the seaweed industry, I talk to Rhianna Rees, Seaweed Academy Coordinator at SAMS (Scottish Association for Marine Science). Rhianna’s full bio can be found below.
Whether you want to become a seaweed entrepreneur, you’re thinking about getting started as a seaweed farmer, a researcher or maybe an investor, this episode is probably for you.
Rhianna takes me through of all the steps involved with cultivating and processing seaweed, from the initial considerations (before you even get started), all the way to transforming fresh seaweed into a sustainable product:
- What is the Seaweed Academy and who is it for
- Key business consideration before getting started
- Barriers to entry
- Licensing
- Farm design and site selection
- Nursery & Deployment
- Cultivation and Harvest
- Processing
- Economics
- Routes to market
- Product development
The result is a great introduction and an ideal place to start if you are beginning of your exploration into the seaweed industry.
Useful Links:
The Seaweed Academy's website
Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) website
Rhianna Rees on Linkedin
Rhianna’s bio:
Seaweed researcher, passionate about the growth and expansion of the seaweed industry and its role in a rapidly developing blue economy. Author of the thesis 'seaweed is sexy: the consumption and utilisation of seaweed throughout British history and the marketing that surrounds it', with specific expertise in seaweed history and challenges in marketing.
Here is my wide-ranging conversation with Mike Williamson, one of the first seaweed farmers in north America and the CEO of Cascadia Seaweed, of the largest provider of ocean cultivated seaweed in North America (full bio below).
He told me some really compelling stories about starting as a pioneer seaweed farmer and entrepreneur in British Columbia (Canada). Cascadia Seaweed decided early on to start farming their own seaweed and then focus on 3 main verticals: seaweed for making plant-based food products (e.g. seaweed snacks), feed additives for cows to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, extracting chemicals and dietary supplements from seaweed in a sustainable way.
We looked into the importance of scale and the role of small businesses in the seaweed industry, with some great advice for seaweed entrepreneurs.
Mike shared his experience and learnings with the branding aspects of developing seaweed products, testing them and bringing them to market - covering topics such as changing people perception and expanding the consumer acceptance and awareness of seaweed.
We then launched into a deep dive around seaweed processing: from harvesting, freezing and extracting ingredients (bio-refining). He explained how seaweed doesn’t behave like any other land-based vegetables and the challenges that this brings to the processing stages, creating a need for specialised machinery and innovation in this area, which is strongly supported by collaboration with other seaweed entrepreneurs.
Useful Links:
Cascadia Seaweed's website
Cascadia Seaweed's on LinkedIn
Mike Williamson on Linkedin
Seaweed Around The Clock
Books (mentioned during the episodes):
Slime by Ruth Kassinger - How Algae Created Us, Plague Us, and Just Might Save Us Paperb
Mike Williamson's bio:
Mike is a founding partner and the CEO of Cascadia Seaweed. Mike has had a long relationship with the sea. Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, he proudly served in the Royal Canadian Navy for over thirty years. He had a number of shore-based, sea-going (under-sea) and overseas postings, culminating with three years as Commander of Canada’s west coast Naval Base. In the last ten years, he has been an entrepreneur and leader of a number of marine oriented companies encompassing energy, security, education and the environment. Mike brings this experience, along with a BSc (Math/Physics) and an MBA, to his current role.
Carlo Fedeli is the CEO and cofounder of FlexSea, a startup developing alternative packaging materials from seaweed, in order to replace single use flexible plastic packaging.
In this episode, we talk about how first-hand experience of plastic pollutions pushed Carlo to turn to seaweed for a solution. We cover topics such as legislation, carbon credits and the differences between seaweed bioplastic and other plant-based bioplastics. We also look into how to influence public perception towards seaweed, how to source seaweed, the role of biorefineries and the future opportunities coming from strong collaboration between different players in the industry.
Useful Links:
FlexSea website
FlexSea Contact page, where you can also sign up to the newsletter ("The Harvest")
FlexSea on LinkedIn
Carlo Fedeli's LinkedIn profile
The Safe Seaweed coalition
Seaweed for Europe
In this first episode, I talk with Dr Thierry Chopin, a professor of Marine Biology and huge global expert on seaweed cultivation (full bio below). He has worked on seaweed for more than 40 years and has published over 250 papers, including the recent “Farming the Ocean – Seaweed as a Quick Fix for the Climate?”. We talk about his concerns around the risks associated with overinflating seaweed’s role as a climate solution, but also his vision for a “bright future” in the seaweed industry.
Useful Links:
Dr Chopin's company, the Turquoise Revolution
Dr Chopin's LinkedIn profile
Dr Chopin's recent paper: "Farming the Ocean – Seaweed as a Quick Fix for the Climate?"
Video of the ice bucket challenge on youtube and loads of other interviews and media with Dr Chopin
The team at Magellan Aqua Farms
Dr. Thierry Chopin's Bio:
Dr. Thierry Chopin's was born and educated in France (PhD from the University of Western Brittany, Brest). He moved to Canada in 1989 and is Professor of Marine Biology at the University of New Brunswick in Saint John. He is also the President of two companies: Chopin Coastal Health Solutions Inc. and Turquoise Revolution Inc.
His research focuses on the ecophysiology, biochemistry and cultivation of seaweeds of commercial value and the development of Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) systems for increased environmental sustainability, economic diversification and societal acceptability.
Dr. Chopin promotes a greener Blue Economy, the Turquoise Economy, in which ecosystem services, provided in particular by extractive aquaculture (seaweeds and invertebrates), are recognized, valued and used as financial and regulatory incentives, through nutrient trading credits, within a circular economy approach.
