by Chopin Coastal Health Solutions Inc. and Magellan Aqua Farms Inc.

A few facts about the seaweeds cultivated in the Bay of Fundy

We cultivate two species of brown marine macroalgae (also known as seaweeds), the kelps Saccharina latissima (sugar kelp, or Atlantic kombu) and Alaria esculenta (winged kelp, or Atlantic wakame), in the Bay of Fundy, a unique ecosystem in Atlantic Canada, with the highest tides in the world.

Drying Kelp

Below are a few facts about our seaweeds:

  • Seaweeds are superfoods and healthy ingredient sources with many nutritional, health and skin benefits. They are also called sea vegetables.
  • Seaweeds are rich in vital oligoelements; micronutrients; trace minerals; vitamins A, B, C, K; omega-3s; bioactive compounds; nitrogen, phosphorus, carbon, calcium, potassium, iron, etc. macronutrients; and marine-based proteins.
  • Kelps are the original natural source of the fifth taste, the savory taste known as umami, providing a unique flavour to food.
  • Our seaweeds welcome vegetarians and vegans into the seafood world by offering access to highly nutritious marine-based, plant-equivalent food sources from pristine waters.
  • Seaweeds can grow without fertilizers/agrochemicals (but need nutrients in seawater) and do not need to be irrigated, on a planet where freshwater availability is, increasingly, becoming an issue.
  • Seaweed cultivation does not need more arable soil or land transformation (no deforestation).
  • Seaweeds, cultivated in our Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) systems, provide other ecosystem services, such as nutrient biomitigation and habitat restoration, contributing positively to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), especially SDG 14 (Life Below Water), but also to 10 other SDG (2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 12, 13, 15 and 17).
  • Seaweeds are the aquaculture component sequestering CO2 transiently and providing O2, while the other animal and microbial components consume O2 and release CO2.
  • Seaweeds can help reduce climate change and coastal acidification impacts.
  • Shifting diets towards the consumption of sustainable, safe, equitable, resilient and low-carbon sources of food from the ocean (such as seaweeds, invertebrates and fish) will reduce gas emissions and carbon footprints from animal land-based food production systems, and contribute significantly to climate change mitigation to keep global temperature rises below 1.5˚C, by 2050, to reach the targets of the Paris Agreement.
By eating seaweeds, you also participate in the decarbonization of this world and contribute, at your level, in making the Blue Economy greener. That is what we call the Turquoise Revolution, fostering sustainable economic growth in coastal communities and regions.
Sustainable Development Goals