At Fiora Mara, we are committed to sustainable aquaculture and to cultivating seaweed in a way that benefits both the environment and the communities we serve. Recently, with our partnership with Hart Hatchery, we collected live seaweed from the waters off the coast of Long Island and began extracting the seaweed sorus (seeds) for re-planting. This is a second method of growing seaweed plantlets on grow lines, the first is the gametophyte(1,2) method, which was a huge success for us. This effort is part of our long-term strategy to source seaweed from the regions that we operate in, ensuring that we only grow plants that are well-suited to local ecosystems, avoiding any negative impact on their natural balance.

1. Collecting Live Seaweed from Long Island

In collaboration with Hartland Lobster, our team obtained live seaweed from the rich, biodiverse waters off Long Island. This step is key to our cultivation process, as we aim to support local biodiversity and create resilient, regionally adapted seaweed populations. By sourcing seaweed directly from the areas where we intend to operate, we ensure that the plants we grow are genetically diverse and well-suited to thrive.

2. Transporting to Our Pilot Seaweed Hatchery in New Jersey

Once the seaweed was collected, it was carefully transported to our pilot seaweed hatchery in New Jersey. The journey was managed with great attention to detail to preserve the health of the seaweed, ensuring that it arrived at our facility in optimal condition for the next phase of processing and cultivation.

3. Processing the Seaweed to Extract Sorus Tissue

At our hatchery, we began processing the live seaweed to encourage it to release sorus tissue, a crucial step in our seaweed cultivation process. Sorus contains spores that are essential for growing seaweed plantlets from scratch on our grow lines. The extraction requires precision and care to ensure the sorus is extracted properly, to help ensure optimal results.

4. 24 Hours of Careful Cultivation

After approximately 20 hours of processing, the sorus tissue was successfully released into our beakers. We then transferred it into our grow tanks, where it was kept in the dark for 24 hours to settle and stabilize. This incubation period is crucial for preparing the sorus to attach to our grow lines and to begin their next stages of development. Once the 24 hours passed, we exposed the sorus to light, which triggered the growth cycle and set the stage for the plantlets to begin developing.

5. Supporting Local Ecosystems Through Localized Cultivation

This successful process is an important step in Fiora Mara’s long-term goal of growing localized seaweed based on the varied areas that we operate. It is a way to ensure that our seaweed is adapted to their natural surroundings and by using local strains we promote an approach where we minimize the risks associated with introducing non-native species and promotes the growth of sustainable, resilient seaweed.

We are pleased with the success of this first big step of the grow process and look forward to expanding our efforts in other regions. With each step, Fiora Mara is closer to achieving its goal of growing seaweed around the world and capturing the massive amount of carbon that seaweed stores for the long term.

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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.