Seaweed Solutions

The harvest season for farmed kelp is on, along the Norwegian coast! Sugarkelp (Saccharina latissima) is coming onboard 😎

Our R&D seafarms got another colour this season: the vibrant green of the Sea lettuce (Ulva spp.) 🙂

We are diversifying on the farmed seaweed species, through a valuable collaboration with Nordic SeaFarm. We did the first deployment of Sea lettuce seedlings this Autumn, in our R&D seafarms in (Norway) and together with Seaforest As at their seafarm in Harøya (Norway). The seeds originate from local parents, which have been grown by Nordic Seafarm, who has extensive experience in cultivating Ulva spp.. The substrate was then seeded and incubated in our Nursery.
We look forward to the Ulva harvest in May 🙂

Green Gravel or Golden Gravel? 😀

Green gravel is one of the techniques applied in kelp forest restoration. These stones - seeded with local Sugarkelp (Saccharina latissima) - has just been deployed in the Oslofjord by Marea 😀

Kelp forests are extremely important ecosystems, and we can find them in most of our coastlines. These underwater forests provide nursery, shelter and feeding grounds for marine mammals, fishes and invertebrates. Kelp - being algae and doing photosynthesis - takes important part on keeping the balance of the nutrients dissolved in the seawater: absorbing nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon (among others) to grow, and releasing oxygen to its environment.

Sadly, the area of kelp forests in our coastlines is in critical decline. This decline has been mainly caused - directly and indirectly - by human activities, such as increase in sea temperature, pollution and land runoff, coastal development, overfishing causing ecological unbalance, among others. In particular, the Oslofjord’s underwater ecosystem is dramatically damaged, and the natural kelp forest area critically low.

The TAREGUS Project aims to restore these underwater forests in the Fjord, by applying the Green Gravel technique in the Oslofjord. It is lead by MAREA, supported by Seaweed Solutions and SeaForester.

Don’t blink, or we will miss these seedlings growing up at the farm! :)

These are pictures were just taken at our R&D farms in Frøya, including Sugarkelp (Saccharina latissima) and Sea Lettuce (Ulva spp.). The Sea Lettuce has been seeded and deployed in colaboration with .