Latest Press Release March 2015

Seagriculture Conference 2015 on Seaweed Product Potential

The 4th International Seaweed Conference, Seagriculture 2015 will be held on 22-23 September 2015 in Cherbourg, Normandy, France. The objective of the conference is to discover the Seaweed Product Potential, with Seaweed as extract and whole product.



Seaweed is a valuable product and resource. In the year 702 the Japanese emperor decided that seaweed was so valuable that you could pay your taxes with it. In Japan it was possible to pay your taxes with seaweed until the 18th century!

Nowadays the production and consumption of aquaculture products worldwide increase. In Europe, aquaculture production does not change while consumption increased by 50%. In France the production reduced, but demand has increased in recent years by 80%.

Seagriculture 2015 travels to Lower Normandy with a reason. Normandy has a great potential for economic development with a vast coastline, a network of major companies and recognized competence in research, training and innovation. The Region has invested in 2014 more than 600000 euros in research and development in this area, it also included aquaculture as priority Strategies Research and Innovation for smart specialization.

The region created the CENTRAQUA, the regional center for aquaculture. The center includes the network of teachers, researchers, industrial and institutional partners for the development of aquaculture in Lower Normandy. Production, marketing, processing and use, CENTRAQUA is involved in all levels of the industry. It offers prospective project developers a complete toolbox to support all phases of their initiative. It is a continuous exchange cell, which shares its expertise in aquaculture and its links with national and international experts. The region has local resources such as the scientific Alogobank of the University of Caen, the largest library in Europe on microalgae.

There is a considerable economic fabric area around aquaculture. Aquaculture accounts in Normandy more than 320 companies, more than 3,200 direct jobs, more than 11 000 indirect jobs, and finally a turnover of more than € 758 million. One of the strengths of the region is to have salmon in France the only two breeders that produce a premium product that stands out for its quality of aquaculture products on markets. During Seagriculture a site visit is dedicated to one of the salmon farms.

During the Seaweed conference in Normandy, the following sessions are addressed to explore the potential: - Seaweed harvest and aquaculture - Quality and standardization - Seaweeds for humans (food, health and cosmetics) - Seaweeds for animals (feed, health, hygiene) - Seaweeds for plants (ex biostimulants and elicitor) - Green chemistry (or other title to cover other uses of seaweeds ex plastics) - Panel: Economics

The objective is to have scientists and corporate speakers in every session to discover the in depth background and show how products are valorized.

The conference is organized by DLG BENELUX with an advisory committee by its side which has the following members:

Bela Buck, AWI - Alfred Wegener Institute (Germany)

Birgit Schmidt-Puckhaber, DLG eV (German Agriculture Society) (Germany)

Isabelle Dupont Morral, CENTRAQUA , CRBN (France)

Jacques Mozoyer, Cargill (France)

Klaas Timmermans, NIOZ (France)

Paulien Hoftijzer, DLG BENELUX (Netherlands)

Phillip Potin, Roscoff Biological Station (France)

Pi Nyvall Collen, Amadeite / Solmix (France)

Sébastien Pien, SMEL (France)

Stefan Kraan, Ocean Harvest Technology (Ireland)

Willem Brandenburg, Wageningen UR (Netherlands)

Yannick Lerat, CEVA (France)

The conference will be held on 22-23 September in La Cité de la Mer in Cherbourg, Normandy, France. More information on the conference can be found on www.seagriculture.eu.

Download the Press release here: Press Release Seagriculture March 2015