Climate Changemaker - The Incognito Seaweed Revolution

Seaweeds are beneficial to both the marine ecosystem as well as the surrounding local communities. The Ocean Purpose Project illustrates the importance of seaweed and how it can be further integrated into our lives.

WALK ALONG THE SANDY BEACHES of Pasir Ris, Singapore at dawn, and a curious salad appears to wash up on the sands.

A peculiar mix of red, green, brown, and black seaweeds, these native species of entangled fronds arouse the curiosity of humans and animals alike. Mathilda D'silva, a Pasir Ris resident, was captivated by these seaweeds washing ashore and also seemingly thriving on the underside of the line of blue barrels, a coastal protection initiative in place by the Singapore national coast guard. She also noticed that they appeared to grow floating in the shallow pools by the shore, while some rooted themselves to the shallow sandbanks. These curious characteristics make this trending aquaculture crop notoriously difficult to understand, cultivate, propagate and quantify.

The term seaweed adds to the confusion, as seaweeds can be as tiny as microscopic phytoplankton that permeate the water column, powering the marine food chain. They can form massive, lush underwater forests, anchoring themselves with holdfasts instead of claw-like root anchors that attach to smooth, hard surfaces. D'Silva realised that many seaweeds were also attaching themselves to plastic trash that would wash up on the shores of Pasir Ris, fueling one of the reasons why she founded the Ocean Purpose Project (OPP).

“This set off a fact-finding mission in me to understand what I was seeing in Pasir Ris. During my corporate life in a bank, I had come across a seaweed entrepreneur, David Christian from Indonesia, who captured my imagination. We had hours of conversation trying to understand: Why does seaweed behave, grow, thrive the way that it does? What benefit do these hidden saviours of the sea hold?” says D'silva.

Why does seaweed behave, grow, thrive the way that it does? What benefit do these hidden saviours of the sea hold?.

Seaweed Cultivation