Sea vegetable Circulation

Video

Story

"We, LLC, Sea Vegetable, LLC, collect and study seaweeds that are declining due to rocky shore scorch, revive them through land and sea cultivation with less environmental impact, and propose new ways to eat seaweeds.

More than 1,500 species of seaweeds inhabit the waters of Japan, all of which are considered edible and non-poisonous. However, even in Japan, which is said to have the most advanced seaweed-eating culture in the world, only a few dozen species are currently on the dinner table, leaving more than 1,400 species of seaweed as unknown ingredients.

While many terrestrial plants have been explored and various cultivation techniques and cooking methods have been established, the world of seaweed is still in its infancy, or rather, has not even begun. We would like to preserve the seaweed food culture inherited from the past, and at the same time, create a new seaweed food culture. We believe that this will lead to a better future for both the sea and people, and that is what we are working for every day.


There are more than 1,500 kinds of seaweeds in Japan, but only a few dozen of them are available on the dinner table.

We have gathered together a diverse group of specialists, including experts who have dived into the seas all over Japan to collect and classify seaweed, researchers who have long been involved in algae seedling production, and specialists in water quality and nutritional analysis, to work across disciplines from basic seaweed research to the establishment of cultivation techniques.

Seaweed beds are known as the ""cradle of the sea,"" nurturing the lives of fish, shellfish, and other living creatures. However, as sea water temperatures rise year by year, seaweed beds are drastically decreasing due to the increased activity of algae-eating fish and sea urchins.

What can we do in this situation? We came up with the hypothesis that we should cultivate seaweed on the sea surface.

If we can identify a time and sea area where the sea water temperature drops and is not damaged by feeding damage, and cultivate seaweed suitable for that area, we can create a situation where seaweed is present in the sea, even if only for a period of time. In situations where the seaweed is inevitably subject to feeding damage, we believe that by using baskets to cultivate seaweed, we can create a state in which seaweed is present in areas that have not been utilized up to now, thereby enriching and nurturing the marine ecosystem."

Link

• https://seaveges-store.com/

Images

Judge’s Comments

Guillaume Charny-Brunet

SPACE 10 Co-founder & Director of Strategy

Big Blue Loop Prize

The holistic approach of the Sea Vegetable Company commands both admiration and praises. By developing unique technology and know-how for land-based cultivation of seaweed, the company is able to ensure a steady production, and foster a natural repopulation, of delicious species that are otherwise threatened by rising sea temperatures and changes in their natural habitat. By bringing together a great variety of people, from scientists, to fishermen, to local elders, and chefs, the Sea Vegetable Company is creating a productive, inspiring and restorative ecosystem that will benefit both biodiversity and local communities, but also stimulate creativity and taste buds far beyond. It is finally their great sense of aesthetics and ability to share their stories and recipes that make it contagious. Far all this, and for all that is coming next, the Sea Vegetable Company deserves a Big Blue Loop Prize.

Darlene Damm

Faculty Chair and Former Vice President of Community and Impact, Singularity University

Illumination Prize

Sea Vegetable is illuminating and helping our world understand the value of something overlooked - the 1500 types of edible seaweed in the ocean of which only 100 are known. Seaweed is a nutritious vegetable also important to the environment and Japan’s culture. Sea Vegetable is also helping people see something else overlooked - the value of aging workers, disabled workers and abandoned communities in growing this industry. The knowledge Sea Vegetable captures from documenting and studying these seaweeds will be valuable to both human health and the environmental ecosystem. If they have not already done so, I would love to see Sea Vegetable create a “Seaweed” dictionary or open database of all the different seaweeds, their properties, health and environmental benefits, what they look like, recipes and more so more people can learn and collaborate.

Lucy Lu

Director General of Cultural Affairs Bureau, Chiayi City

Exuberant Prize

While there are many examples of projects that utilize seaweed, human-led activities usually result in damage to the natural environment and ecosystems. My main reason for choosing this project is that seaweed restoration is actually repairing that damage. Seaweed has been identified as a very beneficial food source for humans, and it also provides food for marine life and helps their populations to grow. I believe this has high potential to be a good business in the future based on the history of seaweed as a source of food for humans.

Hiroshi Irie

Manager at the East Japan Railway Company in the Innovation Strategy Division, Digital Business Unit

Future Stories of People and the Sea Prize

First of all, the collaboration and partnership with local people is wonderful. The project doesn’t limit itself to research. It brings together fishery and culinary professionals, local working women and people with disabilities in a joint effort to rediscover the riches of the sea, establish a new food culture, and realize a circular economy. It was impressive to hear someone from the fisheries industry describe how the project was making the sea productive again and making people interested in the sea for the first time. Seaweed is commonplace, so creating new value from seaweed and making it the lifeblood of a community is something to be admired. It would be great if this project can extend to local food education and schools as well.

Yuri Naruse

Architect, Founder of NARUSE・INOKUMA ARCHITECTS Co., Ltd.

Saved by the Sea Prize

This project shows us a bright and healthy future in which the creation of a new food culture can enrich the marine ecosystem while also creating jobs. The world is facing a food problem, and it’s becoming clear that this will slowly but surely become a major problem in Japan as well. That’s why it’s so great to see a system being put in place to produce food without burdening the environment, alongside the development of cooking methods and recipes so that a new food culture can take root. It’s a project I’d really like to support.

David Tena Vicente

FabCafe Barcelona CEO

The Sea-rcular ecosystem award

The project addresses critical environmental concerns. Seaweed beds play a vital role in nurturing marine life. The innovative cultivation strategy, particularly the hypothesis of surface cultivation to evade feeding damage, could boost seaweed farming and help marine ecosystems. It offers a solution to the challenge of rising sea temperatures and declining seaweed beds, and also provides new specialized fields of work, from seaweed collectors to production and sea researchers, impacting positively to rural areas that may be suffering from the migration to the cities.