Australian Seaweed Industry Blueprint

The Australian Seaweed Institute recently authored the National Seaweed Industry Blueprint for AgriFutures.

HOW TO Get your copy

The PDF is available for free download here and via the download link below, and you can order a hard copy via the AgriFutures website here.

Australian Seaweed Industry Blueprint

A Blueprint for Growth, EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

By Jo Kelly - Australian Seaweed Institute, 2020

What the report is about

This report outlines the extensive economic, social, and environmental benefits that could be realized from the development of an Australian seaweed industry.

By synthesizing the knowledge from key industry players, academics, and regulators, this study identifies the primary opportunities, barriers and research needed to grow the industry. Seaweed biomass can be used for an array of possible uses including food, animal feed, high- value pharmaceutical/industrial compounds, biofuels, and fertilisers. It can be cultivated either on land in tanks, or at sea where it has few environmental costs – and may, depending on the context, have environmental benefits (Gentry et al., 2019). Despite being historically used extensively by indigenous Australians (Thurstan et al., 2018), today Australian seaweed production lags behind the well-established industries in Asia, and the fast-growing industries in Europe and the Americas (Buschmann et al., 2017).

Australian coastal waters are home to thousands of native seaweed species, many of which show promise in a variety of the aforementioned markets. Of particular recent note is the native genus of red seaweeds, Asparagopsis spp., which, when incorporated as an animal feed reduces methanogenesis and could revolutionize the world’s approach to mitigating livestock emissions. The scale of opportunity in building the entire supply chain from producing, to processing, to consuming seaweed products has the potential to create jobs in regional areas, improve the diets and health of Australians, and protect Australian ecosystems.

Who is the report targeted at?

This report is aimed at Federal and State Government aquaculture and environmental policy and regulatory departments, prospective and current seaweed producers, impact investors and researchers, including academics, who are interested in growing an Australian industry and seizing its potential benefits.

Where could seaweed farming industries be located in Australia?

The key locations with potential for development of sizeable industries to 2025 are the coastal areas of: South Australia, Tasmania, southern Western Australia, southern NSW and regional Queensland. Background The Australian industry today reflects its state in 2010 when it was described as small, fragmented and research focussed with no industry management or development strategy (Lee, 2010). However, momentum is building rapidly in 2020 with new commercial players entering the space in the last 12 months and significant need for an industry plan to drive growth.

Aims/objectives

The key aim was to develop an Australian National Seaweed Industry Blueprint consisting of a Research, Development and Extension (RDE) Plan that will, at a minimum, deliver a $10 million Gross Value of Production (GVP) per annum industry by 2025. This includes an engaged industry stakeholder group with a clear position on the industry opportunity, pathway to development and RDE priorities to get there.

The key objectives are to:

• Verify the economic, social and environmental opportunities for the industry;

• Identify gaps and barriers to industry development;

• Identify and prioritise seaweed RDE needs;

• Empower the development of a cluster group to influence and collaborate for industry development; and

• Define a clear action plan for Industry Development to meet the target of creating a $10M industry by 2025.
  
  
  
  

Methods used

The project was implemented as follows:

1. 47 Industry stakeholders were identified from across industry, academia, and government.

2. 37 semi-structured interviews conducted with stakeholders to assess opportunities, gaps/barriers and RDE needs.

3. Review of relevant literature for input to the assessment.

4. Modelling of the economic, social and environmental opportunities.

5. A virtual workshop with 35 stakeholders to validate the opportunity assessment, key findings and RDE needs.

6. Initial discussions about industry group formation and outcomes from the workshop with AgriFutures.

7. Stakeholders contributed prioritised research needs and follow up discussions conducted as required.

8. Synthesis of assessment and RDE needs into a 5-year plan for industry development.
   
   
   
   

Key findings

• The Australian Seaweed Industry target for 2025 is $100 million (GVP), 1200 direct jobs and a domestic greenhouse gas emissions reduction of 3%.

• There is potential for a $1.5 billion industry by 2040, creating 9000 jobs and a 10% emissions reduction target.

• Development of Asparagopsis cultivation at scale is the single biggest opportunity for rapid industry growth and optimising social and environmental outcomes.

• However, there are a number of gaps and barriers namely regulatory approval for large ocean leases and funding for necessary RDE to close technical knowledge gaps for species cultivation.

• Strong industry leadership and RDE funding are critical for the potential to be realised.

• The RDE plan aims to build the industry through development of three Critical Success Factors:

  1. Industry Leadership and Collaboration;
  2. Production Capability and Scale; and
  3. Innovation for the Future.

• Investment of $8.1 million over 2 years is now needed to fund critical path activities to capitalise on this opportunity.
  
  
  
  

Implications for relevant stakeholders

There is a significant opportunity to develop a seaweed industry in Australia that could generate over $100 million (GVP) by 2025 and create up to 1200 direct jobs in regional, coastal communities. In addition, the industry could reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by 3% per year from 2025. This report demonstrates that a seaweed industry can make a sizeable contribution to achievement of the National Aquaculture Strategy and can support Australia’s economic recovery post-COVID 19. Federal and State Government support for the industry development plan is needed to capitalise on the enormous potential of an Australian Seaweed Industry.

Recommendations

Investment of $8.1 million over 2 years is sought to fund critical path RDE activities. The key elements of the RDE plan that require new funding are:

1. Establish an industry leadership group to drive implementation of the National Seaweed Industry Blueprint and work with government, research and supply chain collaborators to achieve industry potential.

2. Prioritise accelerating Asparagopsis cultivation and developing products and markets immediately.

3. Develop a National Hatchery Network that can provide seedstock to rapidly scale cultivation efforts, starting with Asparagopsis and Kelp, and expanding to other species over time.

4. Develop Cluster Plans for key regions in South Australia and Tasmania, southern NSW and southern Western Australia to drive supply chain development in these areas.

5. Support extension of Kelp Integrated Multitrophic Aquaculture (IMTA) throughout temperate regions to follow on from CRC-P completion in 2022.

The next steps will be to launch the National Seaweed Industry Blueprint and fund the RDE Plan. The key recommendations to achieving this are:

• Launch the National Seaweed Industry Blueprint to build support and obtain funding from key State and Federal Government departments and Impact Investors for its implementation.

• Put forward a proposal to the National COVID Coordination Commission to include the establishment of the seaweed industry in Australia’s post-COVID economic recovery and resilience strategy.

• Support the Marine Bioproducts CRC proposal as it is a critical vehicle for attracting and leveraging private R&D funding for growth of the seaweed industry over the next 10 years.

READ THE FULL BLUEPRINT

The PDF is available for free download here and via the download link below, and you can order a hard copy via the AgriFutures website here.