Hi, Leila.

You mentioned that in Southern Brazil, temperature [I assume this refers to water temperaure] during winter was 18 and too low for the seaweed.  The seaweeds were then grown in shrimp effluent with biofloc.  I would like to know: 

1. If water temperature in the field was 18, what was the water temperature when seaweeds were kept in shrimp effluent with biofloc?

2. How were the seaweeds maintained during these winter months?  How long were the seaweeds kept before out-planting again?

3.  What is the water temperature when you start out-planting of the seaweeds that were kept in land -based facilitiies during winter?

4. Based on your long experience, what is the lowest temperature that your seaweeds can tolerate (stay alive but does not grow) and the temperature where growth is lowest but not zero. 

5. In the subtropical areas of Brazil, is there any fully operational seaweed farm that had /is continuously producing seaweeds in commercial quantities? IF there are, how do they maintain their seaweeds during winter?

Thank you very much.

Hi Siti
Thank you for your comments. Answering your questions:
1. The 18 degrees I mentioned is in the seawater. The air temperature can achieve 8 degrees or less here. In the tanks, with the shrimp biofloc effluent, we used to keep between 23 to25 degrees celsius.
2. We used to keep the seedling in tanks for 3 months, usually June, July and August. However, the last 3 years (2018, 2019 and 2020), the water temperature was not so cold, and we could keep the seedlings in the sea.
3. The water temperature to outplanting need to achieve 20 degrees.
4. The limit for our seedlings is 18 degrees. They can survive until this temperature. Below that, they died.
5. We just had the permission to start the commercial activities. The winter time is still a bottleneck for the production. Keep some kg in tanks is easy, but tonnes start to be difficult. We are thinking in solutions.

Thank you again.

Thank you very much, Dr. Leila., just s few points more:
What has been the largest biomass of seaweed that you have kept in the hatchery that survived the overwintering period and grew well when out-planted.?
What is the most frequent cause of seaweeds not surviving the over-wintering st
Do you know of anybody else, aside from your team, in Brazill or in other countries, who are also trying to do commercial Kappapnhycus farming under subtropical conditions. ?
Thank you again, and wishing you the best of luck in your research and farming trials.