This summer, a significant development in seaweed farming was made. 12 km out into the North Sea, the first mechanical harvest of an offshore seaweed farm was achieved! Behind this advancement is the company North Sea Farmers.
How do offshore seaweed farming and harvesting work?
It’s very simple: a 50 m long plastic tube floats at the surface, attached between two buoys. Hanging from this tube into the water is a 2m wide net, which contains the kelp. To get this kelp growing on the net, the spores (cells involved in the reproduction of the kelp) are cultivated in a lab, then placed on nets. Once the kelp starts to grow, the nets are moved to the open sea. Harvest takes place a few months later.
The mechanical harvesting process involves an electric cutting arm, which pulls up the tubing and slices the long strands of seaweed off the net.
What is so good about seaweed?
You may think of seaweed as just an annoying plant to step in when at the beach, but it actually has many benefits! In terms of your health, edible seaweed contains more nutrients than land vegetables, it helps with digestion, and it is an excellent source of micronutrients and iodine.
Not only is it good for you, it’s good for the environment too! Seaweed absorbs carbon emissions; in fact, it’s thought that at the present moment it stores the equivalent of 10% of emissions from all cars in the world. It is also useful in creating biofuel and renewable plastics.
What are the future prospects of seaweed farming?
Currently, Asia is responsible for 97% of total seaweed production (in 2019). In that same year, Europe only produced 0.8% of the total seaweed production, which is tiny! To allow this number to grow, the European Union is ready to give €273 million for seaweed farm projects, and the Dutch government is proposing to set aside 400 square km of their North Sea waters for seaweed farming. That’s the equivalent of 56,022 football pitches!
Since the value of the seaweed industry is expected to rise from $40 billion in 2020, to $95 billion in 2027, it is very interesting for European countries to get more involved in this industry.
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Written by Armelle Tamisier
Art by Quirin Thome