Mr. Donal Maguire:

I thank the Chairman and committee members.
Global production of seaweed stands at just under 24 million tonnes per annum at present. China and the Pacific rim dominate global seaweed production in terms of absolute output and in terms of aquaculture production of seaweed. In Asia, seaweed is mainly produced using aquaculture with little reliance on the harvesting of natural stocks. The situation in the rest of the world is quite different, where the harvesting of naturally-occurring resources dominates commercial exploitation, and that is the situation in Ireland at present. Seaweed production in Latin America, Canada and Europe is almost completely dependent on natural stocks, mainly Ascophyllum nodosumand various kelp species. Aquaculture in these territories has generally been focused on achieving production of low-volume, high-value species and on attempts to overcome scientific and technical obstacles to increasing the production of edible seaweeds like Palmaria palmataor Porphyra umbilicalis.
In Ireland, there are currently seven licensed seaweed aquaculture sites and 23 licence applications for seaweed cultivation in process. The main focus of Irish seaweed aquaculture operations has been on the production of edible seaweeds, however some production of non-edible seaweeds for cosmetic products has occurred in the past. To provide some context, the Irish seaweed industry is dominated by the harvesting of wild resources, mainly, as I have said, Ascophyllum nodosum. Annual production of this seaweed is already approximately 25,000 to 30,000 tonnes per annum. Recent analysis by NUIG - I hope I am not stealing their thunder by citing it - suggests that the value of the industry is approximately €18 million per annum, about €6 million of which goes to exports, with employment of 185 full-time equivalents. It may be justified to speculate, based on the number of new entrants and reported expansion, that annual value and employment in the seaweed industry has increased since 2010, when those volume and employment numbers were last collected. On the other hand, seaweed aquaculture production in Ireland is in its infancy. It is estimated at current volumes to be less than 300 tonnes per annum and at the moment there are less than ten full-time equivalent posts in the sector.
Ireland has been at the forefront of attempts to develop seaweed aquaculture in Europe. Ireland enjoys considerable advantages in terms of the favourable conditions for seaweed aquaculture and there is a high level of scientific expertise within the various third level institutions and development agencies. Ireland also enjoys strong development and research links with other European nations engaging in seaweed aquaculture, particularly, France, Norway, the Netherlands, Denmark and the UK.

Practical tools including cultivation manuals have been produced for the industry. BIM and many other agencies and institutions continue to work closely with the industry in terms of aquaculture processing, new product development and innovation. BIM has worked very closely with the Irish Seaweed Aquaculture sector in terms of providing crucial supports at establishment and early commercialisation stages.

The development of seaweed aquaculture faces challenges. Some European experts have supported a model in which seaweed aquaculture, shellfish and finfish aquaculture and wind energy generation could all be integrated into what they describe as parks in the coastal zone or perhaps offshore. In our view, the scale, cost and complexity of such parks may present difficulty in terms of costs and a possible displacement of or interaction with other coastal zone stakeholders. The proposal, while attractive on the face of it, is unlikely to be suitable for Ireland for a number of reasons.

In our view in BIM, Ireland's opportunity is more likely to lie in a mixed industry comprising of three distinct elements, first, integrated multi-trophic aquaculture, better known as IMTA - a form of seaweed cultivation in collaboration with finfish and shellfish operators; second, on-shore tank culture of very high value species; and third, conventional long-line marine aquaculture in bays where there are long-line farms. IMTA is particularly interesting in that it would allow integration with the conventional aquaculture industry, such as mussel farming which already has access to appropriate culture sites, the relevant expertise and have completed the significant investment in terms of labour, vessels, equipment and infrastructure. We held a conference in Limerick recently and from that we are confident that the Irish farm seaweed industry could reach a harvest volume of between 2,000 to 3,000 tonnes per year and that this level of development is feasible in the next five years or so, particularly if private investment is available for aquaculture development, processing and product innovation. This would generate a first sale value of €10 million per annum and would generate employment for some 150 people both directly and indirectly.

The key issues to realise this vision are the resolution of licensing issues, the provision of grant aid to the industry and encouraging private sector investment. Private sector investment will also be required to stimulate growth. The development agencies BIM and Údarás na Gaeltachta will continue to engage closely with the industry particularly in the areas of technical development, processing, market development and public information.

Significant effort will be required to manage the diverse priorities of various stakeholders and effective communications, consultative fora and information campaigns will be necessary, certainly at least at local and regional level, to ensure that seaweed aquaculture is fully understood by local communities and that an opportunity is presented to entrepreneurs to engage with the sector to ensure that community benefit, ancillary job creation and return on investment are maximised.