SMARTLAND participates in Seaweed Platform

Foundation North Sea Farm is committed to the development of seaweed cultivation as sustainable activity in the North Sea. From SMARTLANDs involvement in the Nova Delta project and thus in the integrated use of sustainability opportunities in the North Sea, we have joined this Seaweed Platform. Other participants cover the entire chain, from production to use, developers of large offshore wind farms to restaurants and seaweed processing industry.

On the 9th of March we presented ourselves as design office during the thematic meeting around Multifunctional Spatial Use of the North Sea. We discussed that we see seaweed cultivation as a new but realistic activity that uses the chances of the sea in a sustainable way. It captures nutrients back from the water as cyclic link in the food chain, it captures CO2, it produces food, it produces proteins for livestock without damaging rainforests or use of freshwater and it produces new raw materials for bioplastics and medicines. In addition, combining the seaweed cultivation with other activities taking place at sea, such as wind energy, wave energy harvesting, but also with the establishment of marine eco reserves which in addition to sustainable fisheries will restore the North Sea ecosystem.

The Nova Delta project intends to actually link these developments in a concrete project. The combination of Seaweed cultivation with Wind energy seems a promising first step. We are now starting with sketching and research by design, focused on the spatial aspects and the possibilities of this beautiful combination.