Hello, I am very interested in your project and impressed with your presentation. My question is oriented towards your objectives, in particular the second objective concerning the characterization of nutrient and hydrodynamic loads. So, could you describe the species involved in characterizing the nutrient loads of this macroalgae?

Hi @elandozamanileha. Thank you for the compliments and your question. I am the coordinator for this project, and will be happy to try to answer your question. You asked about the "species involved", which I take to mean nitrogen species. Is this the correct interpretation of your question? 

To date, our nutrient modeling efforts are focused on nitrate and ammonium, However, this may change as we learn more about the specifics of our pilot sites and the needs of the algae on the arrays. For a bit more specific information about the nutrient modeling, I'd suggest checking out this 3-min video about the Macroalgae Cultivation MODeling System being developed by our collaborator Dr. Kristen Davis and her team at the University of California Irvine. 

Hello,

Thank you for your answer, I am very convinced, and thank you also for the link of this video.

Kind regards,

Dear  Cicilia Selviane Kambey - thank you for your question. Disease and pest management are definitely of concern, but are very poorly understood in the Caribbean. We see ice-ice-like symptoms on the farm, but particularly in the nursery/lab. We are currently testing a number of treatments that will hopefully help, that include iodine and antibiotics. In the field so far we just remove material that has bleached. We have submitted a grant to further study disease/pests and the microbiome. I think those types of studies will be very important moving forward in developing the seaweed industry in the Caribbean.

Thank you Cicilia Selviane Kambey - I wish we can all come up with a good treatment! I look forward to hearing about what you have been trying for Eucheumatoids in Malaysia and any insights you have.

Cheers,

Loretta

Hi Lorretta,  

I think this is a great project being undertaken and looking forward to its success. 

I was wondering about seasonality of growth in these sites. Do these seaweeds grow throughout the year in these locations?
Do you have any plans of maintaining high volume seedbanks in the lean seasons to be prepared to restart cultivation when the season picks up?

(Although for most eucheumatoids, we should probably be calling them cultivar banks (?) instead of seedbanks - due to the absence of seeds or spores.) 

In order to service the size of farms you're envisaging, the volume of starter biomass required would be massive. It would be great to hear your thoughts on how you plan on working towards that.

Nelson

Dear Dr Loretta,

I am interested in the negative impact of largescale seaweed farming on the physico-chemical and biological aspect of the surrounding water. What are the most likely impacts? How can we mitigate the impact before, during, and after the cultivation? Will some of the impact be permanent? 

GASSSS 

YOU SUCCES

APAPUN GASS