10 results
People

Pathways to social license for the emerging Tasmanian seaweed industry

Project number: 2023-101
Project Status:
Current
Budget expenditure: $103,598.00
Principal Investigator: Scott A. Condie
Organisation: CSIRO
Project start/end date: 10 Jan 2025 - 14 Jun 2026
Contact:
FRDC

Need

Sectors in the blue economy need to understand and manage social expectations in order to maintain their social license and ensure a satisfactory triple bottom line. This is a particular challenge for emerging industries, where data relating to community attitudes and expectations is limited. In the case of Tasmanian seaweed aquaculture, securing social license may be further complicated by existing perceptions and conflict surrounding salmon aquaculture.
The key elements needed to address the challenge of establishing and maintaining a social license for seaweed aquaculture in Tasmania are:
1. A survey of current community attitudes to industry expansion.
2. A tool to understand the evolution of attitudes and test communication strategies, policy options and industry practices in relation to managing social risk.
3. A coherent set of strategies for navigating pathways towards a social licence for seaweed aquaculture.

Objectives

1. Characterise current community attitudes towards seaweed aquaculture in Tasmania.
2. Capture past and current media associated the development of seaweed aquaculture utilising AI approaches.
3. Model changes in community attitudes including social and media influences.
4. Explore strategy options for managing the social risks of an expanding seaweed industry.
5. Communicate findings to key stakeholders and support managers in developing social risk mitigation strategies.
Industry
Environment
Adoption
Environment
Industry
PROJECT NUMBER • 2022-132
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Asparagopsis R&D review and implementation plan for a national seaweed hatchery network

The Federal Government has committed to an $8 million Seaweed Industry Development grant that will support ASSA to establish a National Hatchery Network (NHN) for Asparagopsis and deliver other supporting projects to grow the industry and achieve significant livestock emissions...
ORGANISATION:
Australian Sustainable Seaweed Alliance
People

Developing biomass assessment approaches, harvest methodologies and biosecurity knowledge for wild-harvest of seaweeds in southern Australia

Project number: 2021-112
Project Status:
Current
Budget expenditure: $576,519.00
Principal Investigator: Jason E. Tanner
Organisation: University of Adelaide
Project start/end date: 30 Mar 2023 - 29 Jan 2026
Contact:
FRDC

Need

After many years of interest but little on ground activity apart from a few established operations based on the harvest of beach-cast material, the seaweed industry is starting to gain momentum in southern Australia. There is particular interest in the farming of Asparagopsis for its methane reducing properties in ruminants, but also in several species for human consumption and other uses, including the golden kelp Ecklonia radiata. While much of the focus is on the development of an aquaculture industry, this needs to be supported by the wild harvest of seedstock, at least in the early years, and there is also some interest in wild-harvest for product. However, the knowledge base and tools available for managers to regulate this emerging industry are limited. This proposal aims to start filling in some of these gaps. The first is to develop an understanding of the biomass present in targeted areas, and importantly, the development of a rapid assessment tool to do this, which can then be used to form the basis of a stock assessment methodology as the industry expands. The second is to develop harvest methodologies that allow for the recovery of local stocks, and which can be used to inform rotational harvest strategies by documenting how long recovery takes. The third is to develop an understanding of some of the biosecurity issues likely to be faced by industry and regulators, which will allow managers to make informed decisions around translocation policies to both prevent the spread of disease, and to maintain the genetic integrity of natural populations.

Objectives

1. Develop a rapid assessment tool for species specific subtidal macroalgal biomass, initially for Asparagopsis armata, A. taxiformis and E. radiata.
2. Develop harvesting methods for the above species that ensure that local populations are not depleted, and that ecosystem function is not compromised.
3. Review literature on macroalgae diseases, pests, health management strategies and population structure.
4. Identify information and approaches to define health management units.
5. Collate information and build an initial basic approach to translocation.