NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Sustainable Aquaculture

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Aquaculture, or aquatic farming, now produces more seafood annually than all of the wild fisheries of the**world. In Canada aquaculture is usually associated with fish farming or with the production of oysters, mussels**and clams - but certainly not for seaweeds. Despite supporting the greatest seaweed diversity, Canada remains**remarkably absent from a global sector that has not been able to meet market demand - realizing an annual**increase of 5.7% over the past 10 years, with a total annual production of greater than 18 million MT and a**value exceeding US $10 billion. Asian countries continue to dominate in terms of seaweed production -**99.05% by volume/biomass and 99.36% in terms of value.**The North Island College (NIC) Industrial Research Chair for Colleges in Sustainable Aquaculture, Dr.**Stephen Cross, will continue his applied research program with a focus on the development of an entirely new**aquaculture sector for western Canada - that of seaweeds. Much like many of our land crops, seaweeds can be**produced annually and typically within a season - for kelps seed is entered in January and harvested in June.**The products that can be made from the harvested material include food, materials used in food processing,**medicines, cosmetics, dietary supplements, building materials, fertilizers, and even fuels. In addition,**seaweeds play an important role in the natural environment and may offer real solutions to the increasing**impacts we see as a result of climate change.**The 5-year research program will explore how we can develop seaweed farming on Canada's west coast,**from technical aspects of producing the seed to the development of innovative technologies for farming,**harvesting, processing, for adding value to the raw material in support of target markets, and to determine how**and at what scale seaweeds could be used to remove carbon from the oceans, thereby reducing climate change**impacts. The applied research is supported by a unique cross-sector collaboration including a number of**coastal First Nations, shellfish and fish farm companies, product development enterprises, and the forestry