The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has granted $250,000 to The University of Florida and Florida Sea Grant have to investigate seaweed aquaculture cultivated from Florida’s tropical waters. This three-year research project aims to kickstart a new industry that could boost Florida’s economy while benefiting its environment and coastal communities.
Seaweed aquaculture, also known as the cultivation of seaweeds, has room for expansion into other regions to meet demands for food security, nutritional supplements, animal feed, cosmetics, biofuels and more. With this grant, researchers will explore a variety of tropical seaweeds. The findings could pave the way for a thriving seaweed farming industry much like it serves as a high value crop in regions in Europe and the Americas.
“While much of the current global seaweed farming that consumers can relate to focuses on kelp and nori, which cannot thrive in Florida’s warm waters, this research will explore subtropical seaweeds that thrive in our warm waters,” said Dail Laughinghouse, associate professor of applied phycology at the UF/IFAS Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center and a co-principal investigator on the project.
As part of the Extension efforts of the project, the team will work with relevant parties and markets to encourage commerce.
Research objectives include:
- Develop scalable seaweed farming methods.
- Identify the best local seaweed species for cultivation.
- Understand market demand.
- Explore potential commercial uses for these seaweeds both in Florida and beyond.
- Calculate the costs and potential profits of farming seaweed while working with an active Florida seaweed farm.
- Assess how seaweed can help clean waterways by absorbing excess nutrients, also known as the process of bioremediation.
“Seaweed as an additional revenue stream for the marine aquaculture industry has the potential to support existing working waterfronts by adding a new, value-added product,” said Angela Collins, Florida Sea Grant assistant Extension scientist specializing in marine fisheries and shellfish aquaculture at the UF/IFAS Tropical Aquaculture Lab
The NOAA project stems from an innovative research study previously funded by a UF/IFAS grant program designed to build new collaborations and partnerships between researchers and industry, including shellfish farmers seeking diversification opportunities. The continuation of this endeavor will expand a UF/IFAS collaboration with Two Docks Shellfish, an aquaculture shellfish producer based in Tampa, to grow seaweed, said Smyth who also led the initial study.
“Diversification of economically viable farmable products can increase the aquaculture industry’s resilience to withstand perturbations and increase the overall economic impact of aquaculture in Florida,” added Collins.
