Science Centres: Fisheries

Spores of Gigartina atropurpurea growing on string.

NIWA and Industrial Research Ltd. (IRL) have collaborated to achieve the successful pilot scale production of seaweed from spores in New Zealand for the first time.

IRL research scientist Ruth Falshaw says they have identified several new and exciting polymers, such as agars, carrageenans and fucans from New Zealand seaweeds, but the issue is always obtaining commercial quantities of raw material. This is where NIWA’s aquaculture expertise came into play.

Many years of painstaking effort has gone into finding the best conditions for commercially growing red seaweed (Gigartina atropurpurea) in this country. The seaweed spores are grown on 3 m strings at NIWA’s Mahanga Bay aquaculture research facility before being transferred to a mussel farm in the clear blue waters of the Marlborough Sounds.

Once transferred, spores grow at a rate of around 3 mm per day and suffer little fouling. Initial trials have been preparing red seaweed for food industry applications, including thickening and stabilising products, but other avenues are also being explored, such as medical uses.

The overall aim is to develop a seaweed farming industry that does not compete as a commodity product, but sells on added value. A whole new seaweed growing industry could spread to the mussel farms in the Marlborough Sounds if this project is successful.