Mattio L1,2., Zubia M.3, Payri C.4, Vanderklift M. 5, Steven A.6, Lagourgue L.7
1 blue[c]weed, France & New Caledonia
2 Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa
3 Univ. French Polynesia, EIO UMR 241 (UPF, Ifremer, ILM, IRD), Tahiti, French Polynesia
4 Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, ENTROPIE UMR 250 (IRD, Univ.Réunion, UNC, CNRS, Ifremer), Noumea, New Caledonia
5 CSIRO Oceans & Atmosphere, Crawley, 6009, Western Australia, Australia
6 CSIRO Oceans & Atmosphere, Brisbane, Australia
7 L.Lag Consulting, Noumea, New Caledonia
The seaweed industry is booming, opening new opportunities for many countries outside traditional producers in Asia to participate in the global market. In the South Pacific, Australia is setting an example. Over the past four years, the country has developed significant expertise, raised substantial funds and launched a national alliance to stimulate the industry in various sectors including human, animal and plant nutrition or environmental remediation. Elsewhere in the region, seaweed production is mostly limited to introduced Kappaphycus and Euchema spp. for the carrageenan market, with only a few other species traditionally harvested for food (e.g., Caulerpa in Fiji). However, new projects are emerging, such as cultivating sea grapes (Caulerpa) in Niue or Mozuku (Cladosiphon) in Tonga, and notably in French Polynesia where efforts have been developed to unlock the untapped potential of their local seaweeds for food, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. However, in most other tropical Pacific countries, there is still a lack of knowledge about the potential of native species. This is the case in New Caledonia where the diversity and ecology of local seaweeds are well documented, but their potential as an economic resource has been virtually unexplored. This untapped diversity offers many opportunities for value-added products that can stimulate local blue economies by producing local nutritious and sustainable blue foods, agro and aqua-feed, fertilizers, biomaterials or nature-based environmental solutions. Here we assess the potential of New Caledonian species as a new indigenous resource and select species with the highest potential for relevant local and regional applications.