Newsletter Issue 3.2 November 2013 Seaweeds Contact editor: [email protected]

Seaweeds Australia Editorial P.1 Theme: Natural Resource Management P.3 Seaweed Theme: Cultivation P.2 Theme: Food & Nutrition—foraging P.4 Species Theme: BiotechnolgyP.2 New Developments—food P.4 The legalities of seaweed foraging P.5 Profile International Events P.6 ww Durvillaea Potatorum w.i sap 20 14.com

It has been a few months now but this Photo courtesy of King Coming up however in only two weeks is newsletter follows the International Sea- ASPAB2013, to be hosted at the In- Island Supplements weed Symposium in our neighbouring stitute for Marine Science (SIMS) in the Bali. This conference was a success beautiful Chowder Bay —you can still register A magnificent feature of with over 700 international delegates, up until FRIDAY — so hurry up. the far south east coast and Australia punched above its sea- of Australia, Bull Kelp (D. weed cultivation weight being represent- potatourum) is currently ed by 28 delegates amongst representa- the main native species tives from over 25 nations. These dele- harvest from wrack in gates also had the benefit of meeting Australia, by harvestors each other, and the ISAP2014 booth, and staff at Kelp Indus- sponsored by Tourism Australia and tries Pty. Ltd., on King Business Events Sydney, proved a hit Island near Tasmania. A as a node of seaweed and Australia. novel history of this in- Apart from a plethora of interesting dustry development presentations and posters on all things since the 1970’s can be seaweed, delegates could visit the sea- found on their website weed farms of Indonesia and be taken (www.kelpind.com.au). It out to experience first hand, the villages tells of a seaweed jour- that have been established to create a ney that is influenced by seaweed industry for the nation. Thanks international markets and for the experience Indonesia—ISS was natural phenomena of El a great success. Otherwise enjoy this edition which includes Nino patterns. opportunities for sea based seaweed aqua- Bull Kelp is thought to be culture alongside proposed shellfish leases, on a southwards journey food foraging—a topic which I often get due to climate change called up about and Gareth Belton has (CSIRO Report Card), crossed the borders to deliver a national per- and a new website is up spective, restoring missing marine forests where everyone can con- with Ezequiel (Ziggy) Marzinelli, and a sum- tribute to help in the mary from BioMarine 2013 on the concept of tracking of this species: biorefineries. Don’t forget to email me if you Atlas of Life in the have article to feature in next years issues Coastal Wilderness leading up to ISAP2014. (http://alcw.ala.org.au). Pia Winberg Executive Officer Seaweeds Australia Seaweeds Australia Newsletter November 2013 Page 2

Theme: Cultivation - Spatial Planning and Aquaculture Lease areas in

Fisheries NSW, a division of the De- expanding and seafood consumption application and dark, low profile partment of Primary Industries, is per capita is increasing. In 2008, buoys will be used. A longline culture seeking approval for the establish- 46% of the seafood consumed system will be used which consists ment of Commercial Shellfish Aqua- worldwide was produced by aquacul- of an anchoring and mooring system culture Leases within the open ma- ture. where horizontal lines of rope (i.e. rine embayment of Jervis Bay. In NSW the supply of locally caught backbones) are suspended from the Due to the interest in Jervis Bay from seafood is not expected to increase surface by buoys and anchored at local and interstate shellfish growers from current sustainable catch levels both ends. and local Indigenous groups, it is and approximately 87% of seafood Longline systems are the predomi- timely to have a coordinated ap- purchased in NSW is imported. nant culture method for deepwater proach to assess the potential for Jervis Bay is one of only three ma- shellfish cultivation in Australia and aquaculture in Jervis Bay. Fisheries rine embayments on the NSW coast seaweed cultivation internationally. NSW has developed an Environmen- that are suitable for deepwater aqua- The impacts of the leases on the tal Impact Statement (EIS) and draft culture. The other embayments are marine environment in Jervis Bay Environmental Management Plan to Port Stephens, which has an estab- are not anticipated to be significant accompany an application for three lished edible oyster industry and are- given previous experience of aqua- Commercial Shellfish Aquaculture as used for Pearl Oyster production, culture in the bay. There will be no Leases that, if approved, would be and which has Blue nutrient input (feeding) of shellfish as tendered to shellfish growers. The Mussel aquaculture and also used to stock relies upon naturally occurring project would also provide the oppor- produce oysters. Oyster aquaculture feed. tunity for research on sustainable is also undertaken in 32 estuaries and extractive aquaculture and other along the NSW coastline from Extract from Commercial Shellfish applied marine research, including Wonboyn Lake on the Victorian bor- Aquaculture leases Jervis Bay, NSW the opportunities for sea-based sea- der to the Tweed River in the north. Environmental Impact Statement, weed production. Summary Document, Published by the To reduce visual impact, floating NSW Department of Primary Industries Three leases are proposed including: rafts will not be considered in this October 2013 two 20 hectare areas 1.5 and 1.9 kilometres off Callala Beach; and a 10 hectare site 0.7 kilometres off Vincentia over an area previously leased for mussel aquaculture. Only species native to Jervis Bay like Blue Mussels, scallops and oysters would be grown, as well as any of the di- verse species of seaweeds that can be found in Jervis Bay. Global demand for seafood is rapidly

Theme: Biotechnology - Biorefinery and Genetic management at BioMarine

Recently Australia was sponsored by Business Events 3) Realizing high value opportunities requires evidence of to be represented at BioMarine Business Convention efficacy of product which requires further time for evidence 2013 in Halifax. There I was invited to moderate two based R&D and addressing complexities of different mar- sessions that included representatives from Canada, kets. Ireland, France, Mozambique, Portugal, Norway, Aus- tralia and the USA. Theses session topics were the 4) Processing technologies of seaweed biomass are still in Seaweed Biorefinery concepts and Selective Breeding need of improvement and are diverse. The application of & Genetic Management of seaweeds. There was a 1.5 skills in chemical engineering with those of biologists under- hours discussion on each of these topics so they cov- standing species and fermentation processes can be antici- ered a lot of ground, but the final key points from the pated to overcome these hurdles once biomass is available. Biorefinery session included: 5) Biorefinery concepts offer the opportunity to build value 1) There is a discrepancy in what producers of algal to the species that already have a demonstrated production biomass see as a value for effort in production and what or wildharvest capacity, such as Laminaria, Saccharina, the current biofuel and hydrocolloid markets are willing Undaria, Ascophyllum, Kappaphycus, Eucheuma, Gracilaria, to pay, so higher value molecules are a priority. Porphyra and some green seaweeds like Ulva.

2) Production and volume are the current gap that The full panel transcripts on this and many other sessions at needs to be addressed, and this can only be justified by BioMarine 2013 can be downloaded from: addressing the high market value opportunities. www.biomarine.org Pia Winberg

Issue 3:2 Page 3

BioMarine 2013 Seaweed Biorefinery panel and delegates from Australia, Norway, Canada, USA, Ireland, Portugal & Mozambique.

Theme: Natural Resource Management—Restoring missing underwater forests

Seaweeds are the trees of the adult crayweed transplanted to study system in this project provides oceans, supporting very diverse com- Sydney matched the survival of a unique opportunity to develop suc- munities. The loss of habitat-forming adult crayweed in natural (donor) cessful restoration strategies to in- seaweeds along urbanised shorelines populations and transplanted cray- crease local primary productivity and is, however, a global issue. Human weed are growing at similar rates enhance habitat and food supply, impacts through multiple stressors, to those in donor habitats. Hun- thereby increasing local diversity, par- such as urbanisation and nutrient dreds of crayweed recruits are ticularly of commercially important loading, are causing significant de- growing within and around the re- species. This project will provide nov- clines of key species of seaweeds stored patches in Sydney. Recruit- el methods and information for resto- that provide habitat and food to many ment in the Sydney sites was in ration and management of underwa- marine organisms. As a conse- fact much greater than that in natu- ter forests generally. Thus, as well as quence, the loss of seaweeds has ral populations, suggesting that the enhancing seaweed and associated significant impacts on local productivi- proposed methodology not only organisms, the project has the poten- ty and biodiversity. Understanding the allows the survival of adult cray- tial to impact broadly on restoration of factors and processes that allow the weed in Sydney, but also enhanc- globally declining seaweed forests – restoration and reestablishment of es recruitment of new individuals habitats that are amongst the most seaweeds and the biodiversity they into the population – which is of sensitive to environmental change. support is critical for developing suc- course necessary for successful cessful strategies for management. restoration. Dr Ezequiel Marzinelli Crayweed (Phyllospora comosa) is a Given the global concerns about key habitat-forming seaweed that losses of key habitat-forming or- Sydney Institute of Marine Science forms extensive underwater forests on ganisms such as seaweed forests and Centre for Marine Bio-innovation, shallow rocky reefs in south-eastern and the consequences these have University of NSW Australia. Crayweed provides habitat on ecosystem properties and ser- and food to a wide variety of organ- vices, there is an urgent need for isms, including commercially im- sound information to successfully portant species of fish, abalone and restore these degraded habitats lobsters. Wrack of crayweed provides and the diversity they support. The detritus to soft-sediment systems that underpin the food-webs of key fish populations. Crayweed has gone ex- tinct from the Sydney metropolitan region. Its disappearance is related to heavy outfall discharges along the metropolitan coast during 1970’s and 1980’s. Despite the significant im- provement in water-quality along the Sydney coast, crayweed has not re- established in this region. To understand the processes prevent- ing the re-establishment of this sea- weed in Sydney and to provide sound information for restoration, our re- search group at the Sydney Institute of Marine Science and the University of , lead by Prof. P. Steinberg, has undertaken several studies transplanting crayweed from populations north and south of Syd- ney into Sydney sites. Survival of

Seaweeds Australia Newsletter November 2013 Page 4

Theme: Food and Nutrition – the legalities of seaweed foraging - by Gareth Belton

Whether fresh, dried, pickled or brined, there is no adding any more pressure to our marine benthic com- doubt that seaweeds are tasty. Thus, it comes as no munities that are already under pressure from other surprise that seaweeds are part of the hottest new human related impacts (nutrient and sediment runoff, trend taking off across Australia’s culinary landscape: climate change, invasive species etc…). wild and foraged foods. As a result of this, many chefs have started to look to the ocean for menu inspirations Also, make sure you know what species you are cook- and it is now relatively common to see such things as ing and the water it comes from is clean—you might ‘Tasmanian Wakame’, ‘Australian Seagrapes’ and need to become friends with a phycologist at your local ‘Native Sea Lettuce’ on menus across the country. University for this! However, as seaweeds do not feature in Recreational Fishing Bag/Catch limit brochures, websites or beach Gareth Belton is a PhD student at the University of Ade- signs, the rules regarding the collection of seaweeds laide working on the biodiversity of green macroalgae in for personal or commercial use in Australia remains Australia. Gareth and his wife, Rainbo (also a phycolo- largely unknown to the public. With this in mind I have gist), are currently exploring the southern coastline of taken this opportunity to summarize the rules regarding Australia in an attempt to find new species as well as seaweed collections in each state [see next page]. tasty local seaweeds that can be used in the kitchen and they have no doubt that local seaweed consump- If you do choose to collect attached seaweed and have tion will become more widespread over the next few obtained the relevant permits in your state, keep in years. mind that harvesting seaweed by hand is the most sus- tainable means to do so. Only remove the upper por- tions of the plant with a knife or scissors, leaving the holdfast intact and thus allowing the seaweed to re- grow. In the case of larger brown algae (Ecklonia, Sar- gassum, Cystophora etc…), only remove a few fronds or branches from each plant.

As we are unsure what impacts may arise from in- creased wild harvesting from Australian shores, I urge potential foragers to remember that as with any wild food, by collecting it, you are taking away food from grazers. So please rotate between your collection sites and only take what you need. In this way, we can avoid

New developments in Australian seaweed as a food

Kai Ho Sea Vegetables Tasmania is a new business The ISAP2014 Algae Gastronomy Cocktail Event marketing Tasmanian edible seaweeds from July this will welcome congress dele- year. The Kai Ho story though, started three years gates and their company to Syd- ago by long time marine biologist/phycologist Craig ney in June next year. Although Sanderson and James Ashmore of Ashmore Foods seaweeds and microalgae al- Tasmania. Craig knows his seaweeds better than many ready exist as a food ingredient in Australia having done national diversity audits and and most of the global $6B other ecological research. Kai Ho sea vegetables, most- worth of cultivated product is ly wakame and mekabu (Undaria pinnatifida), are locally sold as food, there is still little foraged and harvested sustainably in Tasmania. These appreciation in the west of the are available in the dried, salted or fresh frozen form. health benefits associated with Dried and salted versions are available through the in- including seaweed in your diet. ternet, the fresh frozen can be obtained through local Also, there has been limited innovation in the way that suppliers around Australia. seaweed and microalgae can be incorporated into www.oceantreasure.com.au foods. So this ISAP2014 event invites poten- tial chefs and suppliers of seaweed and microalgae biomass to submit expressions of interest for a gastro- nomical creation WITH A DIFFER- ENCE. The best will be selected by the working group comprising three seaweed researchers and two gas- tronomy experts. Go to http:// isap2014.com/social_program.html

Issue 3:2 Page 5 - the legalities of seaweed foraging cont.; Summary of rules regarding seaweed collections in each state

In Tasmania In Victoria No license is required when less than 100 kg per person It is legal to collect small amounts (apparently this of beach-cast seaweed is collected daily for personal use. equates to few shopping bags) of beach cast seaweed However, collecting beach-cast seaweed in Marine Na- for personal use, but local council offices need to be ture Reserves is not allowed and the direct harvesting of contacted prior to collections. The rules pertaining to native seaweeds attached to the sea floor is prohibited. live algal collections are unknown but collecting is defi- Also, seaweed collection is only permitted from beaches nitely illegal in Marine Parks and to the low tide level in with public access. Contact the Tasmanian Department of areas adjacent to land based parks, including coastal Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment for reserves. further information.

In Western Australia In New South Wales Licenses are required from both the Department of You can obtain a permit for the commercial harvest of Parks and Wildlife and the Department of Fisheries for seaweed limited to the harvest of Ecklonia radiata, Phyllo- personal and commercial collections of live seaweed spora comosa, Ulva intestinalis and Ulva lactuca (contact (an Other Prescribed Purposes Licence). Permission the NSW Department of Primary Industry in order to apply from the relevant land manager/s (e.g. local govern- for a permit). The collection of any other species attached ment authority) is also required. However, dead beach- to the sea floor is prohibited. However, it is legal to collect cast seaweed is not protected and if only dead sea- up to 20kg of beach-cast seaweed per day for personal weed is being collected and it is not being removed use without the need for a permit. Anything above this from a marine reserve, then no license or authorisation weight requires a permit and collecting is not allowed in is required. However, another separate department, the Intertidal Protected Areas, RAMSAR wetlands and Aquat- Department of Environment and Regulation should be ic Reserves. contacted to ensure that one does not undertake activi- ties that may constitute ‘clearing’ under the Environ-

mental Protection (Clearing of Native Vegetation) Regu- In South Australia lations 2004 made under the Environmental Protection Act 1986. It is illegal to remove seaweed from Marine Parks and Reserves as well as from any intertidal rocky reef from I have been unable to obtain information regarding the the high water mark out to a water depth of two meters. regulations of seaweed collecting in Queensland and There are currently no limits to the amount of seaweed the Northern Territory so I advise any potential sea- that can be collected for personal use from areas outside weed foragers to contact their relevant government de- of these zones. The collection of seaweed for commercial partments before heading to the beach. In Queens- purposes is illegal unless an exemption is obtained from land, contact that Department of Agriculture, Fisheries the Primary Industries and Regions South Australia, Fish- eries Division. and Forestry and in the Northern Territory, contact the Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries.

*As a disclaimer, please note that this is the best information we could obtain from the relevant authorities and in many states the rules were unknown or quite ambiguous. We therefore strongly suggest speaking to your local Fisheries office to confirm the rules in your region prior to collecting.

International Events - ISAP2014

Other upcoming International Events

The Fourth Latin-American Congress in Algal Biotechnology, Brazil 18-23 November, 2013