When you think about eating seaweed you most likely think of seaweed on a beach or taste it in a sushi roll?

However, did you know, seaweed is a dynamic food source which presents a wide range of exciting applications from yoghurt thickener to animal feed, pharmaceutical compounds, fertilisers and even as a biofuel?

While we import most of our use in Australia – worldwide in 2020, seaweed was a US$16.5 billion dollar industry.

With use increasing it is timely we investigate seaweed marketing opportunities in Australia.

From January 2021-June 2022, Deakin University’s Blue Carbon Lab in partnership with the Latrobe Valley Authority and Food and Fibre Gippsland investigated a first-of-its-type study in Australia as to the potential of a seaweed aquaculture industry in Gippsland. The study selected 10 seaweed species and found exciting results.

You can read the study here: Food and Fibre Gippsland CEO Nicola Pero said the study is exciting.

“There are multiple opportunities across the entire seaweed value chain – from the creation and maintenance of the seaweed hatcheries to harvesting the fast-growing crops, processing locally into a range of products and then distributing both domestically and internationally,” Nicola said.

“With our clean, green, and trusted reputation for quality produce, the introduction of a Gippsland seaweed product would take our Gippsland Trusted Provenance brand offering to another level, and potentially profile the region to some lucrative new export markets.”