On May 8, 2024, the final event of the iSEA Project - An initiative towards sustainable macroalgae farming along European shore, funded by the EEA Grants Fund for Bilateral Relations, took place at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon. The event was attended by over 40 people from various scientific fields, universities, and companies, including project partners and seaweed related businesses.
The event aimed to present the project's results, focusing on the different dimensions of the sustainability of seaweed farming, through lectures delivered by several renowned speakers. The following key dimensions were addressed:
- challenges and opportunities of offshore seaweed farming in Portugal
- traceability of seaweed production and food safety
- eco-physiological background of macroalgae aquaculture
- perspectives on seaweed microbiomes in aquaculture/seaweed farming and as biotech resource
- business opportunities and market dynamics in the seaweed industry
- community and tourism aspects of seaweed farming
- importance of Maritime Spatial Planning in the implementation of seaweed farming
- industrial production of organic seaweed
- integration of these dimensions into a roadmap for sustainable seaweed production along European shores
This multidisciplinary approach, employed throughout the project and presented at the final event, facilitated connections between expertise in macroalgae biology and stakeholders in macroalgae aquaculture from Norway and Portugal. It fostered research and development, aimed at achieving economically viable and environmentally sustainable macroalgae biomass production in both countries.
This bilateral action resulted in the outline of a research project proposal to be submitted to European funding calls. The project will focus on community-oriented seaweed farming to promote the ecological restoration of coastal areas and sustainable seaweed production. Additionally, a scientific article was produced and submitted to Nature Ocean Sustainability. The article highlights research gaps and proposes measures to overcome the current state of the art in the development of a profitable European macroalgae farming industry. It also emphasizes a socially and environmentally sustainable approach using the backcasting methodology developed during the project's workshops.