Persistence pays off for kelp farming pioneer

Applying for grants has been time-consuming, but for a small business with big plans and limited resources, Jo has found it essential to secure funds needed for research and development.

Sea Health Products is technically a microbusiness and does not qualify for many grants because its turnover is too low, Jo explains. Most grants also require some level of co-contribution from the applicant, hence the loan the business has taken.

“But there are certainly grants out there,” she says. “I like to get in touch with the organisation giving out the grants to clarify whether my idea is suitable. In talking to them, you pick up certain language. It might be special keywords about employment opportunities or regional development, or whatever it is that the grant is hoping to achieve. You need to prove that you can achieve that so that your project fits the criteria.

“Grant writing can be a bit emotional if you apply for several and get rejected. And once you get the grant, you need to make sure that you have enough time to execute it and report on it as well.”

Jo’s tenacity has paid off. She has recently been successful with several grants.

These include €50,000 – about $80,000 – from the international Safe Seaweed Coalition to develop hatchery techniques for the development of a local seaweed industry. It was one of only 15 grants the coalition awarded worldwide in 2021.

The business also won a $10,000 prize from Investment NSW at the 2021 Innovation District Challenge, a university ‘pitchfest’ focused on industry collaborations. Jo has worked closely with the University of Technology Sydney as part of her kelp propagation research.

In February 2022, she successfully secured $115,000 in funding through the Australian Government’s Boosting Female Founders Initiative to help with the cost of the planning approvals process to establish kelp farms on her two marine leases.

Jo has used knowledge gained from her Churchill Fellowship to develop growing techniques for golden kelp, with increasing success. Specifically, she has drawn lessons from the well-documented practices around sugar kelp (Saccharina latissima), one of the main kelps farmed in the Northern Hemisphere.

Back in Australia, as the COVID-19 pandemic raged in 2020, Jo and husband Warren Atkins focused on building a temperature-controlled breeding lab. This was based on facilities Jo had seen overseas and made use of Warren’s skills as a refrigeration and air-conditioning specialist – before he turned to full-time kelping with Jo.

“Previously, we’d been trying to propagate kelp in water that needed to be 15°C when the temperature outside was 38°C. When we began using refrigeration, that’s when we started to get success,” Jo says.

To adapt sugar kelp processes for golden kelp, they tweaked water temperature and the amount and timing of light and nutrients in the water to find the “sweet spot”.

 “It has taken a lot of trial and error, but it’s paid off. We’ve had success in small batches, producing up to 20 metres of seeded twine. But we really need kilometres of this to set up a farm. Now it’s about replicating the experiments on a larger scale,” Jo says.

As well as their own lab at Tilba Tilba, they have been working with the Sydney Institute of Marine Science (SIMS), where they have access to autoclave equipment to help reduce contamination of kelp cultures. In March 2022 they put their first kelp plants on lines into the water on the SIMS marine research lease at Chowder Bay in Sydney Harbour, marking a significant milestone for the business.

They are also collaborating with a Tasmanian scientist who has experience with kelp propagation to develop the reliable, repeatable processes needed to scale up for farming.

“We can also potentially help with seaweed restoration projects, and we’re excited about that,” Jo adds. “We’ve noticed a decline in golden kelp along the south coast of NSW. There are probably several reasons – changes in water temperature, an increase in sea urchins feeding on the kelp and a decline in the population of urchin predators such as rock lobsters.”

Like many other seaweeds, golden kelp releases millions of spores because the chance of spores meeting and being fertilised in the ocean is very small. In a laboratory, the chances of fertilisation are much higher. A single drop of water underneath the microscope can contain hundreds of plants, which Jo suggests could be used for farming or to replant wild stands of kelp if needed.

As the breeding advances, Jo is also embarking on the planning approvals process for the two marine leases she successfully tendered for in December 2021. One is at Pambula, the other at Bermagui.

These are among the first marine leases awarded under the 2018 NSW Marine Waters Sustainable Aquaculture Strategy, which opens new marine areas to aquaculture.

The strategy streamlines approvals through the NSW Department of Planning and Environment. Previously, any marine-based project required separate approval from up to 11 different government agencies.

Jo is somewhat daunted by the process ahead, which includes scoping documents and a full environmental impact statement. “Our seaweed farms have the same status as a ‘significant development’ or ‘major project’,” she says. “It’s on par with the Barangaroo waterfront precinct in Sydney, a new water treatment plant or an airport. But, hopefully, it will be straightforward.

"We're putting an anchor and some chains in the water and the plants are a native species. This is a proven technique that works overseas. We are just copying a successful model.”