A knowledge summary of seaweed cultivation from a Swedish perspective

Food requirements are predicted to increase in the near future as the estimated global human population approaches 10 billion.

To reach a more sustainable food supply chain, we need to rely less on animal-based proteins and instead find new sources of vegetable proteins.

Seaweeds (marine macrophytes) can be rich in proteins and the productivity of seaweeds can be several times higher than that in terrestrial systems, making seaweeds a promising source for vegetable proteins in the future.

Seaweed aquaculture is not an established food industry in Sweden today, but the Swedish coastline is long with relatively pristine waters and very good conditions for seaweed growth, which indicate a large potential for increased production of seaweed biomass leading to both economic growth and higher food security and employment.

The production of seaweeds is environmentally friendly and can mitigate eutrophication as well as ocean acidification. Thus, seaweed aquaculture covers both environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainability.

However, for the Swedish seaweed aquaculture industry to develop in the future, there is a great need to increase both knowledge and skills regarding the production of the biomass.

This project focus on increasing knowledge about biomass production by providing a summary of national and international seaweed cultivation research relevant to Swedish conditions using scientific methods (systematic reviews and meta-analyses).