What’s happening? The EU4Algae platform has been launched by the European Commission, the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency and a consortium of industry organisations to support Europe’s algae sector. The platform aims to promote the use of algae for nutrition and other uses to EU consumers and businesses over a three-year period, including as a sustainable feedstock for biodegradable plastics. The platform will facilitate collaboration between algae producers, buyers, sellers and consumers, along with investors, researchers and authorities.

Why does this matter? Progress towards a large-scale algae industry across Europe has not been as fast compared to other areas which have dominated production and consumption, such as Asia. The EU4Algae platform aims to aid efforts to expand the region’s algae sector, to play a bigger role in the EU’s blue economy. The platform will act as a hub for accessible information around algae projects, funding calls, best industry practice and intelligence for all stakeholders, and will be available online by summer this year. By the end of 2022, the Commission will also launch an EU Algae initiative and action plan to support it. Aside from its nutritional value, algae has been lauded for the natural ecosystem services it provides, such as climate change mitigation through carbon absorption, as well as its potential for alternative products when harvested including livestock feed and biofuels. Another use case gaining interest is biodegradable packaging, which could play a larger role in replacing conventional plastics amid increasing regulations to curb plastic pollution. The European algae industry has traditionally relied on the harvesting of wild seaweed stocks, which has natural limits for sustainable extraction. The sector will need to upscale in a sustainable way to ensure long-term stability, which will require integrating regenerative practices that are climate-resilient and climate-friendly into production. Given Europe is one of the biggest global importers of seaweed products in relation to value, there are opportunities for investment in production for both the public and private sector here. According to a report by coalition group Seaweed for Europe, the industry has the potential to be worth up to €9.3bn ($10bn) by 2030 and generate around 85,000 jobs. Despite opportunities for expansion, the sector has largely remained restricted due to several barriersincluding a fractured value chain and the absence of adequate knowledge around the potential of algae and seaweed among decision-makers, which has limited investment to date. Other regions are exploring investment in the sector. Last year the Australian government granted AUS59m ($43m) toward a range of seaweed-related research projects. Elsewhere, a consortium of firms including Eneos and Honda are also aiming to establish a large-scale, economically viable microalgae farm facility in Malaysia. The facility will span five hectares and produce approximately 140,000 mt of microalgae which will be used in food, consumer goods products and biofuels. There can be some downsides of large-scale algae production, however. Potential disadvantages from farmed seaweed include the risk of altering the genetic diversity of wild seaweed stocks and impacts associated with monoculture if one species is chosen to be intensively farmed. Other concerns with increasing production include noise pollution caused by harvesting methods, which could disrupt other marine life, and reduced light and shading to some seabed habitats such as seagrass beds.

These factors will need to be carefully managed when growing the industry.

Source:

The Fish Site

What’s happening? A coastal and ocean industries sustainability plan which calls for blue economy sectors to work in partnership to combat climate change has been launched by the European Commission. The EU’s blue economy has a turnover of over €650bn ($794bn) and supports almost five million direct jobs. The Commission’s plan outlines measures for the blue economy to become more circular and less polluting, with the overall aim to support the EU’s attempts to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

Why does this matter? The Commission’s proposed plan is attempting to simultaneously protect marine habitats and biodiversity while improving the sustainability of marine-related industries, both of which will play a key role in mitigating climate change.

The plan targets sectors including aquaculture, maritime transport, coastal tourism and shipbuilding, and will support the objectives of the European Green Deal and the EU’s 2050 Zero Pollution Action Plan. The development of offshore renewables such as floating wind and tidal energy, for instance, support the EU’s 2050 target of reaching 300 GW of installed offshore energy. The role of ports will also be explored, with plans to develop them into green “energy hubs” for cleaner power including hydrogen and other low-carbon fuels supporting the decarbonisation of maritime transport.

Measures to shift blue economy sectors to a more circular mode of operation will also be promoted, which includes developing renewed standards for fishing gear to target ocean pollution, and ship recycling. The sustainability of seafood production is to be targeted through new standards, in addition to funding research in innovative food sources such as algae and cell-based seafood.

The agenda includes aims to protect 30% of the EU’s sea area to reduce biodiversity loss and increase fish stocks, through the establishment of marine protected areas to better protect nature and also coastlines from erosion and flooding. The Commission also points to the climate mitigation benefits of such action. Alongside the obvious reasons for protecting biodiversity, the role of large fish species such as tuna and sharks as carbon stores should be recognised as another incentive for conservation – particularly given the fact that Europe’s waters and coastal environments are home to nearly 50,000 species.

Advancing efforts to preserve biodiversity, alongside the growing size of offshore renewables projects, may result in tensions due to pressures on the amount of available space in the ocean. As such, the EU will establish a “Blue Forum” to facilitate discussions between different sea users to enable cooperative, sustainable use of the ocean. One solution already being explored is multi-use offshore projects that combine offshore infrastructure with biodiversity initiatives, such as Van Oord’s deployment of reef structures at the Borssele offshore wind farm to boost the North Sea’s oyster population.

To facilitate all this the European Investment Bank Group, which comprises the European Investment Bank and the European Investment Fund, will work with member states to support blue innovation and blue bioeconomy initiatives. The Commission is also encouraging private investments to follow ocean sustainability standards such as the EU-sponsored Sustainable Blue Economy Finance Initiative.

On a larger scale, the establishment of strategies aiming to improve the sustainability of marine habitats and related sectors is gaining traction. Last year, the leaders of 14 countries joined the world’s biggest ocean sustainability initiative, pledging to eliminate overfishing, restore shrinking fish populations and end the movement of plastic pollution into the sea over the next decade. Australia recently announced AUD100m ($77.4m) in ocean protection funding, which will go toward the restoration of habitats and industries including fisheries.

Source: www.euractiv.com