Recent news reports of the Seaweed Standards proposed by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) aim to ensure the sustainability of wild and cultivated seaweed globally.
In the main, this is most welcomed news, and Seaweed & Co. is one of the consultees as part of the development of the proposed seaweed standards.
As the seaweed industry continues to grow, and provides multiple market opportunities into a diversity of sectors, so the sustainability of seaweed supply needs to be protected.
Whether seaweed for food, health, nutrition, extracts, cosmetics, biofuels or more, the diversity of seaweeds’ benefits means there is a huge amount of opportunity ahead for this rapidly growing industry.
The MSC and ASC have achieved some incredible things with fisheries across the world, and have raised the public awareness of issues of sustainable fisheries.
The hope is that their experience in this complex picture of managing many species across many different environments and geo-political systems, can be utilised with seaweed cultivation and harvest. The same diversity of species, geographies and markets exists, and so it needs this breadth of experience to see meaningful seaweed standards.
However, we will be watching closely to ensure the seaweed standards are pragmatic and meaningful. It is of course challenging when industries are so highly diverse to make sure that standards are applicable and relevant, without being overly diluted to accommodate for this diversity.
We would invite others to review and comment on the consultation process here.
Importance of Seaweed Standards
At Seaweed & Co., we have developed our own standards and accreditation. These are based on years of experience, and assessed by independent experts in the fields of seaweed industry, academia, sustainability and nutrition.
Whilst we embrace improvements across the industry, we are confident that we are ahead of the curve, with World’s first such as DNA Authentication of our seaweeds to ensure traceability, and distinct processing technologies unique to our supply and resulting in quality products superior on keys measures to any similar products on the market
Should you have any questions on seaweed standards and accreditation, please get in touch to ask.
Why We Got Involved In Seaweed
Seaweed offers an opportunity to address the mega trend challenges that face society. These are sustainable sources of food, nutrition, health and energy. No other natural resource can provide meet all these demands, and this fact was our inspiration to develop aspects of the seaweed industry into mainstream markets.
Key is the sustainability of supply. Our supply of wild harvested seaweed is focussed on species that are sustainable and scalable to harvest from the wild. Some other species are extremely desirable, but limited in scope to scale, and thus their ability to take seaweed into mainstream markets. In these instances, the only solution longer term is the cultivation of these seaweed species.
At Seaweed & Co. we are leading research projects with industry and academic collaborators to grow seaweeds on land, in tanks, which will provide scalable, high quality and safe seaweed supply. This is to complement sustainable supply of wild harvested products, which has a long future when done properly.
Seaweed & Co.’s Dr Craig Rose was featured in The Independent talking on this issue of sustainable seaweed supply.
We are always happy to talk seaweed, and so look forward to any comments you may have.