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Seaweed science, industry and policy in dialogue in the Hague
03 October 2024
PML is attending the North Sea Seaweed 2024 event
PML Marine and climate change ecologist Professor Ana M Queirós is in the Netherlands this week for a major event which brings together 200+ seaweed professionals from across Europe.
Hosted by North Sea Farmers, a non-profit which represents the interests of the European seaweed industry, the event is designed to “connect the whole seaweed value chain”, showcasing the latest in seaweed production and its range of uses for food, feed, biomaterials and biostimulants.
A range of business and policy representatives will be in attendance with Jan van Zanen (Major The Hague), Maris Stulgis (EU Commissioner), Vincent Doumeizel (Seaweed Ambassador UN Global Compact) providing the plenary opening in which EU ambitions for the seaweed sector will be discussed.
PML is currently working with North Sea Farmers and a consortium of science and research partners on the development of the world’s first co-located commercial-scale seaweed farm and offshore wind farm.
Funded with support from Amazon’s Right Now Climate Fund, North Sea Farm 1 covers five hectares off the Dutch coast and is aimed at testing and improving seaweed cultivation while pioneering scientific research to explore the potential of seaweed farms to capture and store carbon, as part of climate change mitigation.
At this week’s North Sea Seaweed Event, Professor Queirós will be presenting her research. She stressed the importance of scientific monitoring and analysis in underpinning developments in the seaweed sector.
“I’m really pleased to be here as it’s a great opportunity to engage with the growing seaweed industry and share our research on Blue Carbon and the role of seaweed farming in the carbon cycle. I am particularly keen to share our work around North Sea Farm #1, the first seaweed farm in Europe co-located in an offshore wind farm, here in the North Sea.”
“Commercial seaweed farming offers great potential in terms of carbon sequestration, but it’s vital that industry and science work closely together now to ensure that projects and initiatives are evidence-based and carried out sustainably. The research in this area is not very mature yet, and aspects such as how much carbon from farms actually contributes to long-term storage in the ocean, away from the atmosphere, the potential for these projects to produce other climate-active gases, and their interactions with wild biodiversity, are still understudied. Our research may help fill crucial data gaps and help advise on ways to promote the positive effects of seaweed farming whilst helping to limit impacts on the surrounding wildlife. I’m looking forward to speaking to business, the private sector and policy-makers today, and am grateful to North Sea Farmers for the opportunity to present our work.”
For more information on North Sea Seaweed visit: North Sea Seaweed 2024 – North Sea Farmers