Seaweed conference: Working together

A view from Denmark

The keynote speaker for the first day was Susan Løvstad Holdt, Associate Professor at the National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark (DTU). She leads research on seaweed composition, bioactive compounds, processing and food safety.

She is Vice-President of the International Seaweed Association and chairs the Danish Seaweed Network, which has more than 540 members.

Professor Holdt said that as a relatively new sector – for European countries, at least – seaweed faces challenges particularly when it comes to regulation and licensing.

For example, should seaweed be classed as a seafood or a vegetable? How can we ensure that the measurement of, say, protein content is standardised so that we can compare like with like? Seaweed is strong in iodine, which we need in our diet, but how much iodine is too much?

She stressed: “We need to work together on this.”

And to make that happen, more data is required.

It is also important, she said, to ensure than when seaweed industry people are talking to politicians that they frame their explanations in language that the policymakers can understand and relate to. “We must understand what it is they want to hear,” she added.

Overall she was optimistic for the future and she concluded: “With collaboration, I think we can get there.”

Lessons from the US

Earlier this year a delegation from the SSIA/Seaweed Scotland visited the US states of Alaska and Maine, to see what practical insights could be gained from looking at what seaweed producers are doing on America’s Pacific and Atlantic coasts.

Leigh Eisler of South West Mull & Iona Development, Rob Grisenthwaite of SAMS and Eco Cascade’s Jemima Coper gave a joint presentation on the findings.

One key takeaway was: “Everything is bigger in Alaska”!

Another was the can-do culture that finds ways around problems, for example repurposing old shipping containers as seaweed nurseries.

In Maine too, the processing operation run by Ocean’s Balance, a leading manufacturer of seaweed products, was helping seaweed producers find a market for their crop.

Colder waters, especially in Alaska, are an advantage as they mean less biofouling, but predators and drifting ice floes are a problem.

Collaboration models

Working together was a key theme of the conference. Joanne Elston of Co-operate Scotland explained the dynamics of setting up a co-operative, while Patricia Rojas Bonzi of the Scottish Agricultural Organisations Society (SAOS) talked about how collaboration works in land-based agriculture.

Donna Fordyce of Seafood Scotland talked about the Scottish Ocean Cluster, which is looking to gain more value from “waste” in seafood processing, and Melanie Siggs of the Global Seafood Alliance (also the keynote speaker for day 2) explained how a “pre-cooperative” model or cluster can be the precursor to a fully organised co-op.

Collaboration between academia and industry was also a theme. The conference heard from, among others, Sofie Spatharis of the University of Glasgow, a marine ecologist who is modelling biofouling to predict optimal harvest times, and Gordon McDougall of the James Hutton Institute, who described a joint project that has established that kelp extract can be a powerful biostimulant for barley crops.

Reina Veenhof of SAMS (who was voted “most interesting speaker”) talked about how SAMS is looking to “climate-proof” Scotland’s seaweed stock through genetic selection; Chiara Boni of the University of Aberdeen described research into the nutrient content of seaweed and how it is affected by fermentation; and David Aldridge of SINTEF Ocean in Norway described how the industry in Norway is looking to build up its infrastructure and is exploring working with the salmon sector to use seaweed cultivation to reduce the excess nutrients around fish farms.

The first day concluded with the traditional conference dinner at the Fishouse Restaurant, Oban, including Isle of Harris gin which uses sugar kelp among its botanicals. The meal was accompanied by musical entertainment from a local Gaelic choir.

Breakfast with WiSA

Day 2 started with a breakfast and panel discussion hosted by WiSA (Women in Scottish Aquaculture). Introduced by Jill Couto-Phoenix of Lantra, the panel was made up of Melanie Siggs, Donna Fordyce, Alison Baker of Eco Cascade and Rhianna Rees.

The discussion touched on leadership, “risk-taking” and the role of women in aquaculture. Melanie Siggs said that her career route had been less about wanting to be “a leader” and more about having a voice, and agency. She added that an important principle is “aspire to be the leader you always wanted to have”.

Donna Fordyce stressed the importance of allowing your team to develop personally, while Alison Baker said her role was always evolving, but one key lesson has been not to micro-manage: “I spend more time listening than talking.”

The panel agreed that, as a relatively new sector for the West, the seaweed industry represents more of a level playing field for women than some other industries: “Everyone is learning.”

The cluster philosophy

As keynote speaker, Melanie Siggs returned to the podium to talk about the cluster approach in seafood, specifically the Iceland Ocean Cluster, which is being adopted as a model elsewhere, including Scotland, and even Namibia.

Faced with shrinking cod quotas, the Iceland fishery sector worked together to find ways to extract more value from the fish they were catching, from dressings for burn victims to collagen drinks.

The talk included a video address by the Iceland Ocean Cluster’s Alexandra Leiper, who said that, with collaboration: “Challenges can be solved much more innovatively and rapidly, and opportunities appear that could never have been foreseen.”

Melanie Siggs advised:

• Agree intention;

• Build trust;

• Create rules; and

• Ensure authentic C-suite commitment.

“Clusters are powerful,” she said. “Because they turn competition into collaboration.”