What a start to our bladderwrack farming trials

The recently kick-started summer shows its best side, as we embark on new bladderwrack farming trials!

Cooperations

It is a perfect summer day morning. We get up early so that we can start our journey to Kustavi, Finland.

Today we are heading to our bladderwrack farming trials location, provided to us by our partner Nordic trout. The location of our first bladderwrack farming trials is located at Nordic Trouts Rainbow trout farms.

For us, as a new startup, it is fantastic to experience the hands-on support and help from the Nordic Trout team. This co-location allows us to use their expertise, knowledge and already existing infrastructure to move much faster and test things we otherwise would not be able to complete.

“This season we are focusing our farming trials on farming techniques.”

Our team member, Ari Ruuskanen has more than 30 years of experience as a bladderwrack researcher. The long experience and knowledge in researching the bladderwrack, including reproduction, growth and growth restrictions, which Ari has, is simply amazing. How many hours underwater, dressed in a dry suit does that require? Just look at how comfortable Ari is in his drysuit!

Lots of reasons to co-locate bladderwrack and fish farms

Nutrients. Bladderwrack is great at capturing nutrients from the water. Both phosphorus and nitrogen compounds are captured by the bladderwrack and used by the bladderwrack for growth.

CO2 removal. Bladderwrack absorbs CO2 from the water. It takes CO2 out from the water in a similar manner as land-growing plants take it from the air. CO2 in the sea makes the water acidic which is not wanted and hence, as it is being removed by bladderwrack, the water becomes less acidic. So it buffers the sea’s growing acidity.

Use of resources. The bladderwrack and fish farming co-location could have the benefits of allowing more efficient use of existing resources such as boats, manpower, facilities, logistics and so on.

Increased efficiency. By having co-located fish and bladderwrack farms we are targeting higher rates of overall efficiency including growth rates, nutrient removal, increased oxygen concentration, use of dedicated water area, utilization of existing hardware etc.

Are you interested in working with us on bladderwrack farming? Reach out and contact us!

What a start to our bladderwrack farming trials

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