Seaweed nursery: development of seeded strings of native red macroalgae

• Grant number: 24/08008-5
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Innovative Research in Small Business - PIPE
• Start date: May 01, 2025
• End date: January 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Fishery Resources and Fishery Engineering - Aquaculture
• Principal Investigator: Felipe Pereira de Almeida Cohen
• Grantee: Felipe Pereira de Almeida Cohen
• Company: Urbansea Ltda
• CNAE: Aqüicultura em água salgada e salobra
• City: São Paulo
• Associated researchers: André Vinicius Fonseca de Faria ; Estela Maria Plastino
• Associated scholarship(s): 25/05357-1 - Seaweed nursery: development of seeded strings of native red macroalgae, BP.TT; 25/05390-9 - Development of micropropagation techniques of Gracilaria caudata for the production of seaweed seedlings, BP.TT; 25/08669-4 - Seaweed nursery: development of seeded strings of native red macroalgae, BP.PIPE

Abstract

Urbansea aims to develop ropes seeded with native red seaweed for the mariculture market. Currently, mariculture farmers in Brazil are faced with the pain of lack of seedlings to start seaweed cultivation. Natural seaweed banks are scarce for collecting seedlings and there is no company producing seedlings commercially. Therefore, native seaweed farmers are ceasing their activity or switching to the cultivation of exotic species. Nonetheless, to develop and strengthen the algae production chain, it will be essential to diversify the species produced and focus on more valued emerging markets. The seedlings ropes will, in the medium term, encourage native algae mariculture to become a perennial and diversified activity, allowing for the sustainable development of the activity in Brazil. For a viable production of this material, it will be necessary to test techniques that use little initial algae biomass, such as sporulation (release of spores) and micropropagation (fragmentation of thallus) for attachment to the ropes. The scarcity of studies with native species, for this purpose, represents a technological challenge to be overcome. Therefore, we will carry out tests with the release and fixation of spores on the ropes and tests with micropropagation, using the red seaweed Gracilaria caudata as a model. The ropes with seedlings and microfragments will be grown in aquariums, flasks, and tanks under different conditions to evaluate the fixation (uniformity and adhesion to the rope), survival, and growth of the seedlings. When evaluating the potential market, we estimate that macroalgae producers represent a serviceable available market (SAM) of around 2.5 million reais/year. Considering that this product can also be used in integrated systems with shrimp and shellfish, as well as in social projects with fishing communities, the total addressable market (TAM) is estimated at around 100 million reais/year. Urbansea has a diverse team, with a technical area specialized in aquaculture and cultivation of native algae, and a management and administration area, which makes it capable of dealing with the demands of the proposed challenge. Therefore, we will start this proposal in the technology readiness level (TRL) 1 and we intend to finish it in TRL 3, in which the product "seedling ropes with native red macroalgae" will have already been experimentally tested and could enter the MVP (minimum viable product) phase. (AU)