Yesterday marked an exciting milestone for Fiora Mara: the launch of our very first seaweed farm, supported by the incredible team at the RETI Center. This achievement represents a crucial step forward in our mission to deliver innovative, nature-based climate solutions. It’s not just a technical success—it’s a testament to the dedication, preparation, and collaboration that brought us here.
Step by Step – How we got here
Reaching this point has been a journey filled with challenges, learnings, and triumphs. Here’s how we got here:
- Building and Preparing the Seaweed Hatchery: We began by designing, configuring, and building our seaweed hatchery. This facility would serve as the critical starting point for nurturing seaweed from its earliest stages to deployment readiness in the purposefully challenging environment of a shared warehouse space.
- Obtaining Gametophytes: The process continued with sourcing gametophytes from Bigelow Labs, renowned for their expertise in ocean science and for their robust collection of live gametophytes from across the globe. These tiny organisms were the foundation of our work.
- Hatchery Nurturing: At our seaweed hatchery, we processed the gametophytes, attaching them to grow lines and carefully nurturing them in our grow tank. This required constant monitoring, balancing of nutrients, and ocean water maintenance to ensure their health and growth.
- Transition to Deployment: Once these microscopic organisms matured into plantlets on our grow lines – in our grow tank, we prepared them for deployment. This involved moving them to a specially designed capsule, optimized for their safe transition to the open water.
- Farm Construction: Drawing on our earlier material studies, we constructed our pilot seaweed farm—a design that is scalable, eco-friendly, and perfectly suited to our mission of carbon sequestration.
- The Launch: Finally, at the RETI Center, we launched our seaweed farm into the water. This moment was the culmination of months of preparation, research, and practice.
Reflecting on the First Step
The journey to this launch was not simply smooth sailing. At every stage, there was a sense of nervousness—a natural byproduct of attempting something new and uncharted. But that energy drove us. It pushed us to dig deeper into our research, refine our methods, and practice tirelessly until we could confidently execute each step.
This experience reminded us that progress isn’t just about having a great idea. It’s about translating that idea into action, one deliberate step at a time. We’ve learned that doing the work—in the lab, gathering supplies from ocean water to a chiller, and out on the water—is where true innovation happens. While this first launch was exhilarating, we’re looking ahead to our next steps with the confidence of a team that’s been through the gauntlet and emerged stronger.
What’s Next?
This launch is just the beginning. With the the lessons learned from this pilot, we’re ready to scale up our efforts and continue refining our approach. Next time we’ll be able to complete these tasks with the steadiness of experience and the excitement of knowing we’re contributing to a healthier planet.
We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished so far and grateful for everyone who’s been part of this journey. The first time is always the most exciting, but it’s also the foundation for what comes next. Stay tuned—we’re just getting started.
