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SOLUTIONS FOR THE OCEAN / NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS | 41

■ 10,000 species of seaweed,
IN ■ 35 million tonnes/year: global production of seaweed,
FIGURES ■ 97% of production is cultivated, 3% of production is derived
from wild seaweed,

■ 56 producer countries,
■ 95% of production comes from Asia,
■ x3: the number of seaweed start-ups and companies in Europe
in 10 years.

SEAWEED CHAMPIONS

Various pioneers in the seaweed sector mounted the
rostrum during Seaweed Day, presenting the deploy-
ment and economic trajectory of their company as
their vision. Tomorrow’s superfood, seaweed may well
play a role in the food security sector (HQ Seaweed,
This is seaweed, Seadling, Oceanium).

This promising industry may also have a strong envi-
ronmental impact: Mikael Westerlund, creator of the
pilot plant Origin by Ocean, elected one of the 5 most
promising start-ups in Finland, highlighted the merits
of a seaweed biorefinery to fight against plastic pol-
lution and ocean eutrophication, major environmental
challenges. The Director of Investment Funds for the
Regeneration of Ocean Health, Swen Blue Ocean, © M. Dagnino
supported by IFREMER, considers this industry to be
“a way of producing low-carbon”, which could repre-
sent “a productive alternative enabling us to reduce
methane production from cattle breeding”.

For the duration of Seaweed Day,
the hall of the Oceanographic
Museum was transformed into a
showcase of pioneering seaweed-
based products and prototypes,
foods in biopackaging, as well as
textiles and cosmetics, and even
a signing session with Vincent
Doumeizel for La révolution des
algues (Equateur, 2022).