Cascadia Seaweed Hosts Seeding Summit in Nanaimo

. – To achieve their goals of providing a large quantity of high quality seaweed to the human food, bio-packing and industrial sectors, Cascadia Seaweed has identified a need to add a vertical to its operations — that of producing seed for their farms.

At a full day event hosted at the Network Hub in Nanaimo, Cascadia Seaweed welcomed stakeholders from across the industry and the region to contribute to a conversation about building a nursery on Vancouver Island. From this information, Cascadia Seaweed intends to design, build and maintain a nursery for its own purposes but they expressed interest in providing seed to other farmers as well.

“We do not intend this to be in competition for those of you who may wish to build your own commercial facility, and we hope this session will be helpful” says managing partner Mike Williamson during his opening words.  Chairman of Cascadia Seaweed, Bill Collins says “We are building more than just a business, we are developing a sector.” The workshop demonstrated the collaborative outlook that Cascadia Seaweed is taking as they develop their position in the industry.

The event included presentations from a well known and highly recognized expert on kelp biology,  a local seed provider, and the chief scientist from an Alaskan kelp company, with participation from existing small scale seaweed farmers, other aquaculturists, and the executive director of the recently formed Pacific Seaweed Growers Association.

The Pacific Seaweed Growers Association, a member-driven organization developed to provide a unified voice for the seaweed industry in the Pacific North West, will pick up on the collaborative efforts Cascadia Seaweed has begun to establish, and will look to bring these individuals and companies together again at future workshops.