SBIR-STTR Award

Demand for seaweed products has dramatically increased in the U.S.; however, only 1% is met with domestic production. Expansion of seaweed aquaculture is crucial to protect wild populations from extinction by overharvesting, which impacts entire marine ecosystems. Current kelp aquaculture methods rely on harvested reproductive tissue, which is not sustainable. In response to NOAA Topic 9.3, Healthy Oceans, Ocean’s Balance Inc.—working with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution—proposes to develop procedures to scale the growth of skinny kelp (Saccharina latissima forma angustissima) gametophytes in culture to produce a commercial-scale seedstring product that does not rely on repeated wild tissue harvests. Skinny kelp is a fast growing phenotype of sugar kelp with desirable commercial characteristics native to Maine. The resulting seedstring product will allow existing seaweed farms to expand production, increase yields, and extend their growing season without damaging fragile coastal environments. More off-season fishermen will be able to augment their income by starting new seaweed farms. This project will research best practices for producing seedstring with skinny kelp gametophyte cultures and assess its superiority to seedstring prepared with meiospore seeding techniques and assess extending the growing season in preparation for scaling production in Phase II.

Demand for seaweed products has dramatically increased in the U.S.; however, domestic production from both wild harvests and aquaculture operations only supplies 1% of this demand. To meet demand, expansion of seaweed aquaculture is crucial to protect wild populations from extinction by overharvesting, which impacts entire marine ecosystems. Currently, U.S. kelp aquaculture methods rely on wild harvested reproductive tissue, which is not sustainable. In response to NOAA Topic 9.3, Healthy Oceans, Ocean’s Balance Inc.—working with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution—proposes to develop procedures to scale the growth of skinny kelp (Saccharina latissima forma angustissima) gametophytes in culture to produce a commercial-scale seedstring product that does not rely on repeated wild harvests. Skinny kelp is a fast-growing sister species of sugar kelp native to Maine with more desirable commercial characteristics. This SBIR project will develop the protocols necessary for scaling production of skinny kelp seedstring at a reasonable market cost, assess the potential to extend the season by outplanting juveniles sporophytes with greater temperature tolerance, and improve the reliability of supply using advanced methods of culturing gametophytes for commercialization. The methods developed in this project will be applicable to other kelp species