Tech | December 01, 2011 | 36 comments

Seaweed aquaculture:sustainable food and fuel

source: http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/12/01/379291/seaweed-aquaculture-sustainable-food-fuel/

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JanforGore
When copying the model of land-based industrialized farming, current aquaculture practices can have many of the same negative environmental impacts inherent in industrial-scale agriculture.

U.S. aquaculture operations, primarily producing shellfish, are subject to stringent environmental regulations. But due to the poorly regulated use of high amounts of chemicals and antibiotics to maintain massive, centralized monocultures of fish and shrimp particularly in South America and southeast Asia, aquaculture farms have gained a reputation for polluting water and producing poor-quality food.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. The Atlantic had a fantastic piece this week on the growing movement to clean up aquaculture operations — producing better food, sustainable biproducts, and making them a solution to environmental problems:

Unsurprisingly, once information got out among the general public, “aquaculture” quickly became a dirty word. Industry responded with a strategy of mislabeling seafood and upping their marketing budgets, rather than investing in more sustainable and environmentally benign farming techniques.

But a small group of ocean farmers and scientists decided to chart a different course. Rather than relying on mono-aquaculture operations, these new ocean farms are pioneering muti-tropic and sea-vegetable aquaculture, whereby ocean farmers grow abundant, high-quality seafood while improving, rather than damaging, the environment.

One of the keys? Seaweed. This type of algae, which can be used for everything from food to fertilizer, could be a major piece of creating a network of sustainable farming operations:


Seaweed farms alone have the capacity to grow massive amounts of nutrient-rich food. Professor Ronald Osinga at Wageningen University in the Netherlands has calculated that a global network of “sea-vegetable” farms totaling 180,000 square kilometers — roughly the size of Washington state — could provide enough protein for the entire world population.

The goal, according to chef Dan Barber — named one of the world’s most influential people by Time and a hero of the organic food movement — is to create a world where “farms restore instead of deplete” and allow “every community to feed itself.”

But here is the real kicker: Because they require no fresh water, no deforestation, and no fertilizer — all significant downsides to land-based farming — these ocean farms promise to be more sustainable than even the most environmentally-sensitive traditional farms.

Along with being a fantastic source of food, seaweed could be a substantial feedstock for biofuels production. A lot of research has been done on seaweed as a biofuel source, and some pioneers are beginning to farm it for energy production. And while there are no seaweed-based biofuels being produced at commercial scale, there are a lot of good reasons to continue pursuing it.

Firstly, seaweed is not a major source of food globally. And it’s also one of the fastest growing plants in the world. It can grow 9-12 feet in three months. Additionally, fifty percent of seaweed’s weight is oil, so we would theoretically only need to set aside three percent of the world’s oceans for seaweed farming to meet world energy needs.

If you compare efficiency of algae as a fuel source to other proven sources, there’s no comparison. Soy produces 40 to 50 gallons of biofuel per acre, rapeseed between 110 and 115, mustard 140, and palm oil 650. Algae, on the other hand, has the potential to produce 10,000 gallons of biofuel per acre. And most importantly, seaweed can absorb five times more carbon dioxide than land-based plants.

The Atlantic explores the potential for seaweed-based biofuels further:

More at the link
  1. groups:
    Tech,   Green,   Earth and Science,   Sustainable Agriculture,   7 more
  2. tags:
    Environment,  Biofuel,  Sustainable Solutions,  Algae,  2 more
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36 comments // Seaweed aquaculture:sustainable food and fuel

  • JanforGore
    • +1
      JanforGore  

    • http://www.healthiertalk.com/seaweed-protection-against-radiation-3581

      "Seaweeds purify all the world’s oceans- they can do the same for your body. Seaweeds like kelp, dulse and Irish Moss can protect us from a wide range of toxic elements in the environment, including radiation by-products, converting them into harmless salts that our bodies can eliminate.

      Natural iodine in seaweeds can reduce by almost 80% radioactive iodine-131 that is absorbed by the thyroid. Seaweeds are so effective that even the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission recommends that people consume two to three ounces of seaweeds a week (or 2 tbsp. of algin supplements a day) for maximum protection against radiation poisoning.

      Although seaweeds contain the compounds that directly counteract carcinogens, most researchers believe that they also have value in boosting the body’s immune system so it can combat the carcinogens itself."
      ___
      But I agree, we would need to look into this more.

    • 6 months ago
  • Vierotchka
    • +1
      Vierotchka  

    • My problem with that is all the toxins we have been pouring into the seas and the oceans - seafood and fish have high levels of mercury and dioxin in them.

    • 6 months ago
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  
    • Vierotchka:

      YES!!! AN ENTIRE NEW INDUSTRY HAS BEEN SPAWNED!!! CHIPS EMBEDDED IN OUR CAROTID ARTERY FOR FILTERING OUT MERCURY & DIOXIN FROM OUR BLOODSTREAM BEFORE IT REACHES THE BRAIN!!! HAHA HA!

      Viruses too if you slip the doctor some under the table sshh.

    • 6 months ago
  • Dagum
    • 0
      Dagum  
    • Vierotchka:

      Somewhat concerned about that also.

      One of the solutions proposed to combat the coming tide of the trillions of gallons of radioactive materials deliberately dumped into the sea by TEPCO was to create barriers using seaweed. The theory being that Seaweed(like certain mushrooms) are very absorbent of radioactive materials and good for cleanup seaborne radioactive disasters. Sounds like a good solution. But what happens to those who accidentally eat it and other seaweed gotten from the Pacific ocean. ?

    • 6 months ago
  • ampersand
    • 0
      ampersand  
    • Vierotchka:

      As Dagum noted, some water plants absorb radiation. His question was what remains. I don't know about radiation and seaweed, but I discovered in my early aquaculture greenhouses that water hyacinths actually remove heavy metal contamination.
      There is a chemical bonding change that neutralizes the toxic signature and content of the heavy metal pollution.
      This doesn't mean we haven't poisoned every nearly every bit of ocean on the planet, but it does give a ray of hope if can learn to use natural systems to repair some of the damage we've done to water, earth, and air.

    • 6 months ago
  • Vierotchka
    • 0
      Vierotchka  
    • Image
    • ampersand:

      That's interesting about water hyacinths (beautiful flowers), a highly invasive plant which reproduces and spreads at an amazing speed - so much so that it can choke a pond or a lake to death. If one could find a highly profitable and large-scale use for them besides their capacity to remove heavy metals, so as to prevent them from choking rivers and lakes, that would be great. What to do with water hyacinths once they've absorbed toxins and heavy metals? Burning them would surely release these toxins and metals into the atmosphere.

      From Wikipedia:

      Water hyacinth has been widely introduced throughout North America, Asia, Australia and Africa. They can be found in large water areas such as Louisiana, or in the Kerala Backwaters in India. In many areas it, particularly E. crassipes, is an important and pernicious invasive species. First introduced to North America in 1884, an estimated 50 kilograms per square metre of hyacinth once choked Florida's waterways, although the problem there has since been mitigated. When not controlled, water hyacinth will cover lakes and ponds entirely; this dramatically impacts water flow, blocks sunlight from reaching native aquatic plants, and starves the water of oxygen, often killing fish (or turtles). The plants also create a prime habitat for mosquitos, the classic vectors of disease, and a species of snail known to host a parasitic flatworm which causes schistosomiasis (snail fever). Directly blamed for starving subsistence farmers in Papua New Guinea, water hyacinth remains a major problem where effective control programs are not in place. Water hyacinth is often problematic in man-made ponds if uncontrolled, but can also provide a food source for gold fish, keep water clean and help to provide oxygen to man-made ponds.

      Water hyacinth often invades bodies of water that have been impacted by human activities. For example, the plants can unbalance natural lifecycles in artificial reservoirs or in eutrophied lakes that receive large amounts of nutrients.

      There are other uses being found for the abundant plants, such as for cattle food and in biogas production. Recently, they have also begun to be used in wastewater treatment due to their fast growth and ability to tolerate high levels of pollution. Parts of the plant are also used in the production of traditional handicrafts in Southeast Asia. In Bangladesh, farmers have started producing fertilizer using Water Hyacinth or Kochuripana as it is known there locally.

      As chemical and mechanical removal is often too expensive and ineffective, researchers have turned to biological control agents to deal with water hyacinth. The effort began in the 1970s when USDA researchers released three species of weevil known to feed on water hyacinth into the United States, Neochetina bruchi, N. eichhorniae, and the water hyacinth borer Sameodes albiguttalis. Although meeting with limited success, the weevils have since been released in more than 20 other countries. However, the most effective control method remains the control of excessive nutrients and prevention of the spread of this species.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_hyacinth

    • 6 months ago
  • ampersand
    • 0
      ampersand  
    • Vierotchka:

      Good citation for an overview of the problems with water hyacinths.
      It is chore to expend the labor to cull the hyacinths in my larger fish pond, but as the citation so aptly states: "Water hyacinth is often problematic in man-made ponds if uncontrolled, but can also provide a food source for gold fish, keep water clean and help to provide oxygen to man-made ponds."
      I manually rake out the excess hyacinths when needed and spread them on the ground as a soil amendment. (Being on the relatively newly emerged rocky shelf of the Pacific Coast, we have far more granite than soil.)

      In Switzerland, no doubt, one wouldn't need or want water hyacinths in the ponds or the greenhouse. Fertilizing waste from organic dairy cows would be more appropriate I suppose. (Amory Lovins, I understand, uses rabbit pellets to heat and fertilize the house and greenhouse in the mile high Rocky Mountain Institute.)

      But back to the main point over-all, I have the sense that consuming the kelp floating off my isolated shores here is probably far preferable to eating Safeway potato chips, or GMO corn products.

      It's a small planet but still big enough to carry out different experiments.
      (In the US we all eat shrimp grown these days in the end-of-the-line sludge south of Bangkok. It accounts for some of the brain damage in the US we see so many examples of today, no doubt....)
      I will make it point to go out and taste the kelp here at hand though, soon.

    • 6 months ago
  • PressCore
    • +2
      PressCore  

    • I like the red & green Japanese plankton myself. It's sea salty sweet
      and even better than peanuts to snack on if one's metabolism isn't
      racing the 3rd length of the Hialigha race track. Pretty nutritious too.
      One Japanese islander of 116 had married his childhood sweetheart
      who was 112 as of 20 years ago. Living on a diet of marine fish,
      brown rice, red & green plankton, fresh air & Sunshine must have
      realy agreed with them

    • 6 months ago
  • Dagum
  • dcrog
    • 0
      dcrog  
    • Dagum:

      Yes certainly, it's also very delicious and loaded with Iodine, a substance that most of us with the western diet don't get nearly enough of, since we've been told to cut down on the salt! Not to mention, the depleted soils and artificial nutrients in the farm field do not offer the minerals to the plants that we need. I'm not selling Iodine pills, but I'd suggest anyone who cares to do some reasearch on its importance.

    • 6 months ago
  • Dagum
    • 0
      Dagum  
    • dcrog:

      How what do you eat it with? Raw/cooked.

      "Seaweed" is a colloquialism .So are we talking about Kelp(brown seaweed) or red seaweed?
      Which is better? I've been taking Kelp supplements. But I would like to switch to the real thing.

    • 6 months ago
  • dcrog
    • 0
      dcrog  
    • Dagum:

      Dulse and Nori are excellent. If you like sushi, Nori is what is wrapped around the rolls. Both are typically steamed. In specialty food stores you would find them dried, so they have to be rehydrated, the only thing I ever do with them is throw it in fish soups. There is no land based vegitation that has the intensity of nutrients that the sea "weeds" have. The flavor kinda grows on you after a while. I love it! If there's a Trader Joes around you, they sell a crisp sea weed, they are kind of like "crackers", excellent. The concern I have with eating it a lot is wondering what kinds of toxins it has picked up from the ocean. You know, we just can't seem to get away from chemical wastes and God only knows what's floating around in the oceans. If you ever find any research on toxins in sea weed, let me know!

    • 6 months ago
  • dcrog
    • 0
      dcrog  
    • Dagum:

      I'm certainly no doctor, but I do try to avoid going to them as much as possible, and I certainly don't want to become a repeat customer of big Pharma, so, I try to be holistic. I would highly suggest that you check out the benefits of taking Iodine suplements. No one gets nearly as much as they need, and the supplements are cheap. Rather than taking the Kelp, consider drinking wheat grass juice, I grow it and juice it myself, or the powder is good too, and less work. Wheat grass and iodine, your red blood cells will be perfect and you'll hardly ever get sick again.

    • 6 months ago
  • Dagum
    • 0
      Dagum  
    • dcrog:

      I am trying to find it.

      The absorbent properties of Kelp was actually one of the reason I started taking it. If it hasn't already absorbed toxins, it can remove even radioactive particles such cesium -137 from the body.

      Depending on where in the ocean it comes from, it may already be saturated with toxic particles.

      I wonder if anyone farms it on land?

    • 6 months ago
  • Dagum
    • 0
      Dagum  
    • dcrog:

      Being barely able to afford co-payments, I also try to avoid going to the doctor. I have opted for nutrition instead.

      During the time when the still currently ongoing Fukhisma nuclear crisis was still being covered by the news cycle, there was a lot of reports about cesium -137 and radioactive iodine being found in alarmingly high levels in milk and water in the U.S.

      The source of the radioactive particles probably wasn't Japan. They've been in food and water for awhile. In June 2011 The results from A year long study were published and it turns out 3/4 of all U.S. power plants are leaking radioactive material into the ground water. See. http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=13890199

      Are nuclear power plants are all old and decaying with the newest one being built in the 1970's.

      Here is an article about holistic ways (such as the absorbent power of seaweed) to remove dangerous particles once they are in your body.

      http://current.com/community/93143923_how-to-protect-yourself-from-radiation-poi...

    • 6 months ago
  • squarethecircle
  • JanforGore
  • JanforGore
    • +2
      JanforGore  

    • http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110829131315.htm

      Discovery Turns Seaweed Into Biofuel In Half The Time.

      "(Aug. 29, 2011) — University of Illinois scientists have engineered a new strain of yeast that converts seaweed into biofuel in half the time it took just months ago. That's a process that's important outside the Corn Belt, said Yong-Su Jin, a University of Illinois assistant professor of microbial genomics and a faculty member in its Institute for Genomic Biology.

      "The key is the strain's ability to ferment cellobiose and galactose simultaneously, which makes the process much more efficient," Jin said.

      Red seaweed, hydrolyzed for its fermentable sugars, yields glucose and galactose. But yeast prefers glucose and won't consume galactose until glucose is gone, which adds considerable time to the process, he said.

      The new procedure hydrolyzes cellulose into cellobiose, a dimeric form of glucose, then exploits a newly engineered strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae capable of fermenting cellobiose and galactose simultaneously.

      The team introduced a new sugar transporter and enzyme that breaks down cellobiose at the intracellular level. The result is a yeast that consumes cellobiose and galactose in equal amounts at the same time, cutting the production time of biofuel from marine biomass in half, he said.

      The research, performed with project funding from the Energy Biosciences Institute, included team members Suk-Jin Ha, Qiaosi Wei, and Soo Rin Kim of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and Jonathan M. Galazka and Jamie Cate of the University of California, Berkeley.

      Jin compared the previous process to a person taking first a bite of a cheeseburger, then a bite of pickle. The process that uses the new strain puts the pickle in the cheeseburger sandwich so both foods are consumed at the same time.

      Co-fermenting the two sugars also makes for a healthier yeast cell, he said.

      "It's a faster, superior process. Our view is that this discovery greatly enhances the economic viability of marine biofuels and gives us a better product," he added.

      Is seaweed a viable biofuel? Jin and his colleagues are using a red variety (Gelidium amansii) that is abundant on the coastlines of Southeast Asia. In island or peninsular nations that don't have room to grow other biofuel crops, using seaweed as a source of biofuels just makes good sense, he noted.

    • 6 months ago
  • dcrog
    • 0
      dcrog  
    • JanforGore:

      This is just realistic. Although, it's much better to eat than burn up in an SUV, but better to use than corn, which was a lame idea in the first place and has only driven up the price of corn and meats! But hey, the farmers have made out like bandits so I guess that's all that matters.

    • 6 months ago
  • JanforGore
  • JanforGore
    • +2
      JanforGore  

    • After looking into this more I do think this could very well be a big part of the solution. And again, no huge technical advancement we need to wait for, nor governments squabbling over their politics to wait for as well. Nature does provide for what we need to maintain our planet. We just need to have the will to care enough to implement it. The oceans, and water in general are our life and we need to stop killing them and find more efficient ways to keep us and them thriving. We just need to get greed out of the way.

    • 6 months ago
  • artemis6
    • +2
      artemis6  

    • I first saw an algae farm at Burning Man . I have wanted to know more about it since because i felt that was the way to go ( 6 years ago now ...) Thank you for posting about this , there is not much info about it and this needs to change ....

    • 6 months ago
  • JanforGore
    • +2
      JanforGore  
    • artemis6:

      You're right there isn't much information on this and there could be a reason for that. Oil companies I am sure do not like this. You can use this to make biofuel, or grow it to absorb carbon dioxide in the oceans. It can be used as food or medicine...It would be tragic for us to allow this Earth to get to the point of no return when the solutions were right at our fingertips the entire time. We have to start thinking outside of the box if we are going to save ourselves. Soil sequestration combined with this will go a long way to decreasing greenhouse gases.

    • 6 months ago
  • JanforGore
    • +2
      JanforGore  
    • Image

    • http://www.scidev.net/en/opinions/take-biofuel-crops-off-the-land-and-grow-them-...

      This is a good article on mariculture from a couple years ago.

      "Until now, seaweed has been valued mainly as food, but also as fertiliser, animal feed, and recently for a growing phycocolloid industry producing algin, agar and carrageenan. But it could also be a major fuel.

      Macro-algae (seaweeds) are cultivated at sea, mainly by simply tying them to anchored floating lines. Seaweeds do not require soil, and are already provided with all the water they need, a major advantage over land production of biofuels since water is the most limiting factor for most agricultural expansion, especially with climate change.

      One concern is that harvesting massive amounts of naturally occurring seaweed for bioenergy could have comparable effects on atmospheric carbon dioxide and habitat loss or fragmentation as large-scale deforestation. But cultivation is a different matter.

      In Costa Rica and Japan, seaweed farming has been re-established to produce energy. It can quickly yield large amounts of carbon-neutral biomass, which can be burnt to generate electricity. High-value compounds — including some for other biofuels — can be extracted beforehand.

      We have calculated that less than three per cent of the world's oceans — that's about 20 per cent of the land area currently used in agriculture — would be needed to fully substitute for fossil fuels. A small fraction of that sea area would be enough to fully substitute for biofuel production on land.

      As with land-produced biofuels, the contribution to carbon dioxide reduction would come from cutting net carbon dioxide additions via equivalent decreases in fossil fuel combustion. This happens because biofuels — fuels derived from recent photosynthesis — are basically carbon neutral because all carbon released by burning has recently been taken from the atmosphere.

      In contrast, fossil fuels come from ancient photosynthesis, thus the carbon released by burning had been stored for ages and thus represents a net addition into the atmosphere."

    • 6 months ago
  • JanforGore
  • artemis6
  • James_King
    • +2
      James_King  
    • JanforGore:

      I agree wholeheartedly! Well worth pursuing and it would be great to find more information. We have a Chef here locally, Lee Grey, who has long advocated seaweed as a food source, but it would be great to put this on a nation agenda as an alternate energy pursuit.

    • 6 months ago
  • JanforGore
  • Gravity_Man
    • +1
      Gravity_Man  
    • JanforGore:

      Excellent research Jan! Moving to ocean farming would severely crimp the deforestation problem... pull the rug out. But stopping Greed Jan? We need Greed.

      Greed for doing the right thing!!! Greed for oil would send Big Oil into the water to farm it.

    • 6 months ago
  • JanforGore
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  
    • JanforGore:

      YES!!! THE POWER OF A STAMPEDE, TURNED IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION!!!

      If the Oil companies see DOLLAR SIGNS they'll jump ship to get the stuff. You can probably make a new breaksfast cereal or nutrition bar from leftover seaweed fiber.

      I LOVE IT!!! THANKS FOR POSTING JAN!!!

    • 6 months ago
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  
    • JanforGore:

      Lots of new jobs along the Gulf coast states too. Processing plants everywhere turning out all the new products, new distribution centers. Gold Coast we're talking here. Rejuvenation for the South, rejuvenation for all.

      And that oil will work great in my car engine too btw!!!

    • 6 months ago
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  
    • JanforGore:

      If the scientists would get on the ball and cross-hybrid Yellow Onions with seaweed we would also have a vegetable that kills bloodborne parasites.

      I really hate blood borne parasites Jan.

    • 6 months ago
  • artemis6
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  
    • artemis6:

      Oh, it is. I wouldn't doubt that fossil fuel companies and interests pay people to sit in basements at computers and go on sites and vote down or challenge anything to do with this subject so it doesn't see the light of day.

    • 6 months ago
  • artemis6
    • 0
      artemis6  
    • JanforGore:

      There is more than that going on , when i hunt for info i am USED to finding it , and the more obscure it is the more i like it , but THIS subject ? NOTHING . This is the first i have seen of it for 6 years .... and if it is at all promising , someone SOMEWHERE is working on it . What it means to ME , is that this MUST be very powerful , and they DO NOT want people to USE that power .... and will do absolutely anything , to stop it . So , i think , THIS is the place we MUST go ...

    • 6 months ago
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