The potential of US seaweed aquaculture is immense, but the industry remains stalled at low value brown kelp crops. Springtide Seaweed, a leading aquaculture innovator, is developing red seaweed cultivation solutions that leverage key partnerships, refined nursery and farm technologies, and significant market opportunities that will enable new high-value seaweed crops for sustainable economic opportunities and aquaculture diversification.
Phase I successfully supported critical nursery work for production of dulse and nori seed, laying the groundwork for commercial nursery production of seed. Phase II is working to refine nursery and farm seaweed cultivation systems for commercialization, optimizing three dimensional designs and advanced growing substrates targeted to red seaweed 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 commercialized for the global aquaculture industry. New turnkey systems, adaptable to red and brown seaweed cultivation, 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.