Professional Documents
Culture Documents
FOR THE
FUTURE:
The field
of offshore
aquaculture is
[relatively] new.
Large-scale
seaweed farming
will require
multidisciplinary
expertise [to be
successful],
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said
Associate
Prof
Dr
Olanrewaju Sulaiman, one
of the grant holders and a
passionate ocean engineer
from
Universiti
Malaysia
Terengganu (UMT).
The UK and Malaysian experts
will jointly produce a report
outlining the potential scientific
and regulatory challenges to
starting large-scale seaweed
farming in the UK and Malaysia.
Malaysia is one of the worlds
medium-scale
seaweed
producers, producing about
120,000 tonnes a year. Existing
production is mainly based in
Sabah. In comparison, the UKs
production is even smaller,
less than 1,000 tonnes a year.
The production is artisanal,
concentrated in parts of
Scotland and Cornwall.
Dr Sulaiman believes seaweed
farming could provide an
alternative livelihood to the
local coastal communities in
Peninsula Malaysia as well as
serve as a source of biofuel.
Some of his current research
projects involve engaging local
communities and collaborating
with
offshore
technology
giant Technip and aircraft
manufacturer Airbus to explore
the possibilities of harvesting
seaweed as a sustainable
energy source.
There are
many species of
seaweed, different
species grown in
different waters.
They are useful for
different purposes:
from nutrition,
pharmaceutical,
bioenergy,
carbon capture to
systematic water
filtration [and
more],
added the bubbly scientist
from Burkino Faso.
Comparing both countries, Dr
Rodney Forster, another grant
holder and a senior marine
biologist from the University of
Hull, said there is more interest
in harvesting seaweed as a
food source in the UK than as
a biofuel.
I have been doing research in
this direction for the past five
years in the North Sea. We
think the condition is good for
seaweed farming. But the North
Sea is incredibly busy, there are
a lot of activities going on: from
oil and gas, fishing, transport,
tourism, to wind farms,
explained Rodney, who is also
the director of the Institute of
Contact:
Dr Rodney Forster, University of
Hull
(UK grant holder) r.forster@hull.
ac.uk
Dr Olanrewaju Sulaiman
(Malaysian grant holder)
o.sulaiman@umt.edu.my
We know what
the marine
conditions need
to be now, and a
bit more about
the engineering.
[But] more work
needs to be done
on the economic
modelling to
assess possible
issues with the
supply chain,
she explained.
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