Ólavur Gregersen1 and Urd Grandorf Bak1
1Ocean Rainforest Sp/F, Mjölkargøta 20, FO-180 Kaldbak, the Faroe Islands
SeaMark is a four-year project that has been awarded a prestigious €9 million Horizon Europe grant to upscale seaweed production and market applications across Europe. The consortium is led by Ocean Rainforest comprising 25 international, cross-disciplinary partners. SeaMark will utilise recent ground-breaking selective breeding technologies within EU seaweed crop genetics to increase biomass yield. SeaMark aims to upscale circular ocean seaweed cultivation and land-based integrated multitrophic aquaculture (IMTA) systems and develops novel processing methods involving fermentation and biotransformation into twelve innovative seaweed-based products. The entire value chain will be analysed for techno-economic feasibility and socio-economic impact. SeaMark will also identify and quantify ecosystem services provided by seaweed cultivation. This will feed into a strategic development plan for upscaling seaweed production and addressing the carrying capacity of seaweed cultivation in Europe. Due to the need to build more resilient food systems and decrease reliance on fossil-based products, it is necessary to grow the blue bioeconomy through seaweed cultivation and product innovation. SeaMark will help fulfil the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by developing this industry and, simultaneously, providing a positive impact on people and the planet. The project commenced on July 1, 2022, and the presentation will focus on the preliminary results and the project goals.