Farming Seaweed: Expanding Usages and Tackling Global Warming

 

[PHYS ORG] Farming seaweed and expanding its usages is gaining attention outside of Japan and East Asia - from carbon absorption, to reducing methane gas produced from cows, to being used as fertilizer, to usages in cosmetics. Quotes from the linked article:

• Sachiumi Heros is one of several new initiatives in Japan, from fisheries selling "blue carbon" credits to efforts to restore wild seaweed forest.
• Japan began a nationwide "J Blue Credit" scheme in 2020, with 16 of the 21 demonstration projects involving seaweed, including at Kansai and Kobe airports, where the runways are surrounded by water.
  
• British researcher Henry Alexander is studying seaweed in Japan and other countries including South Korea and Canada, "with the aim of bringing that learning back to the UK".
• With its long coastline and cold water, which helps seaweed grow faster, Britain has "huge potential" to produce more seaweed for human and animal consumption, he said.
• That could take pressure off the land and create jobs, while allowing the nation to explore the environmental benefits, from carbon capture to deacidifying water.
• But despite a rush by governments and companies to fund such schemes, scientists have warned that there may not be enough ocean space to remove significant quantities of CO₂ from the air.
• And rising water temperatures are already making seaweed farming more difficult in countries like Japan, fuelling a push to cultivate more hardy strains. 

Musings 

According to Hakai Magazine, Asia accounts for about 97% of seaweed production and The Safe Seaweed Coalition "says humanity could, and should, be harvesting 15 times more seaweed by 2050."

 

There's been growing research using seaweed is cosmetics the past few years and I would not be surprised if seaweed becomes the next trend among SMEs soon. The marketing practically writes itself:

A diverse group of biologically active compounds, including vitamins, minerals, amino acids, carbohydrates, and lipids, can be extracted from seaweeds to develop conventional and novel cosmeceutical products. - DOI: 10.3390/md19100552

Throw in the environmental benefits of seaweed? "Green", "clean", "sustainable" beauty brands are going to have a field day with this.

The active components from the seaweeds could be used as an antioxidant, antibacterial whitening agent, anti-aging, and anti-acne, and also for moisturization in cosmetic industries. - DOI: 10.3390/md17120688

I do want to add that conversely, the Caribbean has been having a problem of too much seaweed. To the point that water around their coast is literally fermenting and killing shallow water habitats. Economically, it's harming tourism and preventing fishermen from doing their job (not to mention killing fish). Industrial pumps are also near useless against this brown carpet because the seaweed has decomposed too much.

Screenshot from a video from Hakai Magazine.

 

It seems scientists are not exactly sure what is causing these massive seaweed blobs to happen, but "the United Nations' Caribbean Environment Program says possible factors include a rise in water temperatures as a result of climate change and nitrogen-laden fertilizers and sewage waste fueling algae blooms." [AP NEWS]

It goes without saying: I am NOT A SEAWEED EXPERT and I'd imagine different strains of seaweed have different tolerances and preferences for temperatures, but I do find it interesting that the Phys Org link says farming seaweed is getting harder because of rising temperatures whereas the speculation of the catastrophe in the Caribbean stems from raising temperatures.

Either way, hopefully cross border learning can help on many fronts.