“It goes back to place-based jobs, keeping people in the area and making use of a natural resource. There’s a huge opportunity in reskilling and retraining fishermen – transferring their skills to aquaculture.” — Máire Éinniú, Marine Development Executive at Údarás na Gaeltachta.
Dear seaweed and microalgae investors, buyers, operators, and technologists, welcome to another edition of the Paxtier Report!
Food for thought this week…
Driving up to Downings in northwest Ireland, the views of Mulroy Bay’s pristine waters and white sandy beaches are striking.
It’s a magnificent spot with a vibrant and welcoming community. And as you’re walking around, you can’t help but reflect on the impact a sustainably scaled seaweed sector could have.
To explore this topic in more detail, we had a fantastic discussion with Lorraine Gallagher from The Seaweed Company and Máire Éinniú from Údarás na Gaeltachta to discuss scaling lessons from Mulroy Bay, the socioeconomic benefits for remote coastal areas, and social licensing strategies.
Here are some other points we covered 👇
→ What impact can seaweed farming have for this part of Ireland?
→ Why focus on Alaria?
→ How do you engage with the local community?
→ Where should wild seaweed tie into this equation?
→ How should we engage shellfish farmers and other fisherfolk to start farming seaweed?
Check out the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.
Hope you enjoy … And get in touch if you’d like to learn more about the Irish seaweed opportunity.
Have a great day folks.
— Peter
In today’s report…
Markets: 📉 Japan’s poor seaweed harvest drives up prices, hits restaurants.
Deals: 🤝 CICE commits $2M to two ocean-based CO2 removal projects.
Movers and Shakers: 🟢 Aker BioMarine details launch of first algal ingredient.
Around the web: 💡 Can iron fertilization of the oceans help solve the climate crisis?
Markets and Investing
✂️Market Snippets
Some big moves in recent weeks…
Seaweed
👑 Prince William visits Cardiff to celebrate Welsh seaweed industry (Read more HERE).
📈 Japan’s poor seaweed harvest drives up prices, hits restaurants (Read more HERE).
📈 Marinova completes expansion of its AUD $5m fucoidan manufacturing facility (Read more HERE).
🤝 FutureFeed signs Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Greener Grazing to make Asparagopsis seaweed farming a reality (Read more HERE).
🐟 Bettafish launches ‘Sal Nom,’ a vegan hot smoked salmon alternative crafted from seaweed (Read more HERE).
💸 SeaH4 Pty Ltd secures equity investment from V&A Investments Pty Ltd. (Read more HERE).
💸 Rootless aims to raise over $1M through seed crowdfunding (Read more HERE).
🤝 China and Philippines agree to cooperate in complementary seaweed industries (Read more HERE).
💸 CICE commits $2M to two ocean-based CO2 removal projects (Read more HERE).
🌿 The first Canadian Seaweed Forum kicks off next week with Cascadia Seaweed set to open the event. This follows the news that 20,000 litres of Cascadia’s FieldKelp is destined for farms in California (Read more HERE).
Microalgae
🤝 The Sarawak government is collaborating with Chitose Group to explore the possibility of producing pharmaceutical products using algae found in the state (Read more HERE).
🟢 Airbus tests bio-based fibre for helicopter panels (Read more HERE).
🟢 Oman ventures into microalgae farming to produce biofuels (Read more HERE).
🟢 Aker BioMarine details launch of first algal ingredient, secures patent for phospholipid delivery technology (Read more HERE).
🐦Tweets of the week
🔥 What else was hot in seaweed and microalgae this week?
General
🐟 UN report states aquaculture production now surpasses traditional fishing (Read more HERE).
Seaweed
🌿 Maine delegation to study wild and farmed kelp industry in Japan to enhance local practices (Read more HERE).
🌿 Câr-y-Môr features on Countryfile (Read more HERE).
Microalgae
🧪 UC San Diego engineers create algae-based microrobots for lung cancer treatment (Read more HERE).
🧪 Study finds prawn shells could combat algal blooms in Northern Ireland (Read more HERE).
🟢 Can iron fertilization of the oceans help solve the climate crisis? (commentary) (Read more HERE).
🧪 Research reveals marine cyanobacteria communicate via membrane nanotubes (Read more HERE).
That’s all folks!
Thanks again for joining us this week. If you think we’ve missed something worth highlighting – drop us a line below or via LinkedIn. Hope you have a great day and stay tuned for more seaweed and microalgae updates soon!
Best,
Peter
