SBIR-STTR Award

This project will develop the methodology and technological design necessary for kelp farmers to "plant" seed directly into the long lines of their ocean-based farms. This practice is likely to offer an expected cost savings of 60% over the current status quo of specialized hatcheries collecting wild "parent" kelp plants extracting their seed for settlement onto thin seed string in a hatchery setting and then attaching that seed string full of small plants (aka sporophytes) onto a farm's long lines. The objectives of this project are to 1) isolate and maintain gametophyte cultures (i.e. a solution of pre- sexual reproductive cells) ready to be combined into a fertile sporophyte culture; 2) Develop and test a binding solution and process for attaching the sporophyte culture directly to a farm's long lines; 3) Design a prototype for mechanically applying the culture and binder; and 4) Authoring a technological and economic analysis of the commercial viability of direct seeding and comparing costs to the traditional hatchery-centric model. The prototype design will be the basis for an SBIR Phase II project. Should these projects be successful the commercial benefits will be immediate with Blue Evolution's Alaska kelp farmers transitioning into a direct seeding model and creating expected savings for farmers and Blue Evolution as both a hatchery operator and purchaser of cultivated kelp.