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Identifying challenges of the US domestic seaweed aquaculture industry



Details

  • Journal Title:
    Aquaculture
  • Personal Author:
  • NOAA Program & Office:
    Sea Grant
  • Description:
    Interest and engagement in aquaculture has been increasing in recent years to meet aquatic resource demands, and much attention has been directed to growing seaweed in the United States. However, research and regulatory environments have not kept pace with its growth, leading to challenges to expanding the industry, and in many cases, these developments may be ahead of available peer-reviewed literature, resulting in a dearth of information from industry participants about their needs and perspectives. The results of the first survey of industry members and those adjacent to the US domestic seaweed aquaculture industry are presented. Presenting contributions of participants throughout the supply chain from seaweed seed string producers through to processors and culinary professionals, and including regulators and researchers. A total of 268 respondents responded to the needs assessment survey, with engagement from fourteen states, primarily representing the U.S. northeast and west coasts. Results describe a wide differential in levels of industry engagement and development across states with Maine providing an example of a well-developed industry, and others just beginning to develop seaweed growing permits and infrastructure. Respondents were asked to identify challenges which were then categorized as: (1) production systems (32%); (2) market opportunities, including both supply and demand (26%); (3) regulations (26%); and (4) post-harvest opportunities and infrastructure (i.e., processing facilities) (16%). Considering these challenges collectively, a holistic approach to scaling up the industry is needed to address challenges throughout the supply chain and across states. The paper concludes with recommendations for policy makers, regulators, extension professionals and researchers to assist this nascent industry in scaling up domestically by working to facilitate information transfer across states and roles within the industry to increase capacity at various levels of the supply chain, address remaining scientific questions, and move toward a regulatory framework for an inter-state (or domestic) industry.
  • Source:
    Aquaculture, 593, 741314
  • DOI:
  • ISSN:
    0044-8486
  • Format:
    pdf
  • Publisher:
    Elsevier BV
  • Document Type:
    Journal Article
  • Rights Information:
    Accepted Manuscript
  • Compliance:
    Submitted
  • Main Document Checksum:
    urn:sha-512:268063541ec12483592bec05955bad513180fed5ed49e9318358cafa80bc39384c494b61586fe092fd13bd88e4887ea79398d72135644704df0778f563f47e98
  • Download URL:
  • File Type:
    Filetype[PDF - 345.40 KB ]
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