Arctic Seaweed and Simply Blue Group sign MoU; Scottish Sea Farms wins award for salmon pen pilot project

SeafoodSource is closely following seaweed innovation by compiling a regular round-up of updates from the sector.

-Cork, Ireland-based economy development company Simply Blue Group and Flekkefjord, Norway-based Arctic Seaweed announced on 22 June they had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to explore development solutions and innovative technologies to co-locate seaweed and offshore wind farms. 

Arctic Seaweed has seaweed farms installed in Bergen and Alesund, Norway, and in Greenland, the company said in a joint release. The company is working to innovate further farming methods to enable cost-efficient and sustainably cultivated seaweed, with minimal environmental impacts.

“From the start, Arctic Seaweed has focused on building a technology platform with the aim to industrialize seaweed cultivation, both from a hardware and an operational perspective. This strategy enables us to cater specifically to offshore wind and seaweed farm integration in various locations around the world. With Simply Blue Group, we have found an excellent partner to explore the necessary steps into combining these promising technologies for a more sustainable future,” Arctic Seaweed CEO Kim Kristensen said. "We are very happy to have signed an MoU with SBG and are looking forward to collaborating closely with them on this specific project and hopefully on multiple future developments.”

The partnership, the companies said, will allow Simply Blue Group to access new technologies from Arctic Seaweed that offer an innovative production line from seeding to harvesting and processing. 

“At Simply Blue Group we are committed to working with the oceans to help tackle climate change and we believe large-scale seaweed farming has an important role to play. In Europe, seaweed farming has not been developed to its full potential, due to the small scale of the enterprises, the limited number of seaweed species, and traditional growing techniques however we recognize the potential for strong growth in seaweed production. We’re delighted to partner with Arctic Seaweed to help progress this opportunity,” Simply Blue Group CEO Sam Roch Perks said.

-On 22 June, Stirling, Scotland-based Scottish Sea Farms announced its recognition at the 2023 M&S Select Farms Awards for its pilot project to promote the settlement of seaweed in salmon pens. 

The trial took place at Scallastle in the Sound of Mull, Scotland, replacing artificial kelp hides with real kelp, providing healthier living conditions for fish and salmon, the company said in a release.

‘We’ve always been very open to trialing new technologies and approaches at Scallastle, but particularly so this latest kelp initiative because of the potential benefits for the cleaner fish and wider marine environment,” Scottish Sea Farms Manager Michael Keenan said. “To now have this ongoing improvement drive recognized by M&S is a really proud moment for all of the team who have worked so hard.”

Keenan also said trials, conducted last year, showed strong results and the salmon and wrasse and lumpfish cleaner fish in the pens "thrived."

"The cleaner fish, which we use as a biological control for sea lice, showed a clear preference for the natural kelp," Keenan said. "What’s more, this was the only crop we’ve had where we’ve required no sea lice interventions involving thermo-delousing."

Photo courtesy of Arctic Seaweed