An algae propagation project at Flinders University has hit a significant milestone in breeding a marine organism from scratch in the lab to support the expansion of a seaweed farm in Western Australia.
The Flinders University research project with industry leader SeaStock is working on a technique to culture the native red microalgae, Asparagopsis taxiformis, a species of red algae native to WA.
The culture will be sent to a pilot plant in Fremantle before expanding production at multiple land-based locations along the Western Australian coast. SeaStock will further seek to deploy seeded lines into the Indian Ocean at its Abrolhos Islands cultivation site located about 60km west of Geraldton.
College of Science and Engineering marine biologists, Professor of Aquaculture Jian Qin, and Dr. Thanh Hoang Hai have announced they are getting closer to culturing the edible seaweed at its entire life-cycle stages. “This Western Australian native red algae from the Abrolhos Islands off the WA coast has a complex life cycle known as tetrasporophyte, gametophyte, and carposporophyte phases,” says researcher Dr. Hoang.
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