Seaweed cultivation - development of hatchery methods |
| Are you interested in sustainable development and seafood of the future? Souto Ocean Culture and Marint centrum are looking for an engaged student for a thesis project within the Tångkusten project. |
The company
"Tångkusten" (Swedish for ’The seaweed coast’) is a development project dedicated to piloting seaweed cultivation in the Baltic Sea and assessing its market potential.
| Tångkusten is run by the Marine Center in Simrishamn and the company Souto Ocean Culture. The purpose of the project is to lay the foundation for the development of sustainable commercial cultivation of seaweed in the sea around Skåne. In addition to the fact that this would be good for the region's economy, seaweed farming is also beneficial for the environment, not least through the seaweed's water-purifying effects. The vision is to create an economically, socially and environmentally responsible seaweed industry in the Baltic Sea, where companies, academia, authorities and the public work together for innovation, social benefit and resource efficiency. With the project, the parties want to help create a locally rooted and internationally competitive seaweed industry, which uses different locally occurring species for the production of various seaweed products for consumers and the industry. The project includes development of seeding, propagation and cultivation methods, investigation of business models for future seaweed companies, mapping of areas of use for seaweed products within the food and blue biotechnology industries, as well as development of the market for seaweed products. In addition to Souto Ocean Culture and Marint Centrum in Simrishamn, other project partners are Kivik tång, Innovation Center for the countryside, Nemo Seafarms, Under the surface and Lund University |
Background
| A central element of the Tångkusten project are the methods for reproduction and seeding of seaweed in a hatchery on land before they are deployed at sea. Hatchery methods have been developed in other countries for the seaweed species present in the southwestern Baltic Sea, but such methods require adaptation and improvement to better suit the specific conditions in the eastern coast of Skåne. At the present, there are no established methods for cultivating seaweed in the Baltic Sea, a gap that Tångkusten aims to fill. The Tångkusten project partners have been actively engaged in testing hatchery methods by customizing existing techniques, laying a solid foundation for the thesis work to build upon. Moreover, they have recently started a collaboration with the Laboratory of Seaweed at Kochi University in Japan, who are renowned experts in the cultivation of seaweed species similar to the ones in the Baltic Sea. |
Project
| In this thesis project you get to contribute to the Tångkusten project by developing reproduction and seeding methods for one or more of the priority seaweed species (gut weed and sea lettuce, but also ’Baltic Sea lettuce’, Monostroma sp.). Souto and Marint centrum envision that the results will contribute to setting up a permanent stock / culture of the selected species at their facility on land, to help eliminate the need for wild harvesting in the future. Another wish is that the work results in one or more well-developed hatchery protocols that can later be implemented in Souto's and Marint centrum's operations.
The project has its base in Simrishamn, where there is a relatively simple indoors hatchery facility, which can be developed further if needed. There is also access to a small field lab at Marint centrum, with field equipment, scales, drying oven, freezers (-20º and -80º C), etc. For more advanced equipment, collaboration with Lund University is possible. Since seaweed material is collected from nearby coastal areas, previous field work experience is an advantage. You will be expected to work independently at certain times in the hatchery and/or lab, but there will be office spaces, lunchroom, support and interaction with supervisors etc available at Marint centrum, which is located next door to the hatchery facility. There will be opportunities to participate in meetings and conferences, and possibly exchange with Japan (external funding needed). |
Related sustainability goals
Emma Brodén
emma@sustainalink.se
0760-345141