British Columbia’s rapidly growing seaweed aquaculture industry could soon outstrip the province’s regulatory capacity, creating legal loopholes and potential risks to marine ecosystems, a new report warns.
The report, carried out by SciTech Environmental Consulting on contract from the David Suzuki Foundation, found that the current management framework — a patchwork of provincial and federal mandates — was not designed to handle the industry’s potential for rapid expansion.
John Driscoll, a fisheries science and policy analyst with the foundation who reviewed the report, said current laws weren't developed to safeguard the environment from large-scale seaweed farms.
“The current suite of regulations, and the agencies that are responsible for that — both provincial and federal — weren't really developed for what might be coming,” he said.
Responding to the report, Mark Smith, executive director of the Pacific Seaweed Industry Association, acknowledged the current regulations around seaweed farming were “very complex” and even industry struggled to know what level of government is in charge.
“Gap is the right word,” he said. “We can’t get accurate data back on even how much is being harvested.”
Seaweed's green business promise
Commercial seaweed production has long been dominated by Asian producers, with market share largely concentrated in China and Indonesia, and mostly directed at human consumption.
That appears to be changing. In recent years, global interest in seaweed farming has soared, driven by new “green” markets for bioplastics, biofuels, pharmaceuticals and animal feed.
A 2023 World Bank study projected new markets could add an additional $11.8 billion in value globally by 2030. The report found that around 200 seaweed farming startups have recently been established in North America and Europe.
B.C.’s coast has emerged as a prime location for future growth.
In recent years, several seaweed farming companies have established themselves in the province as a way to generate income for coastal communities. Proponents say the seaweed farms could reduce ocean acidification, act as buffers against coastal storms, and inhibit harmful algae blooms by absorbing excess nutrients.
Others have looked to seaweed as a way to boost habitat for marine life and even suck carbon out of the atmosphere, later to be sunk into the deep.
In 2024, the growing interest in seaweed prompted Vancouver Island's North Island College to offer seven micro-credential courses for up to 80 students to learn about sustainable cultivation, processing and marketing.
The college's Centre for Applied Research had previously looked at developing kelp pasta, using natural materials to grow kelp, mapping and measuring kelp beds, and testing the viability of using kelp in cattle feed. The centre has also looked to restore kelp beds decimated by roving sea urchins, whose populations were left unchecked after several bouts of sea star wasting disease effectively eliminated its natural predator.
Abby Walker, who works in the centre’s lab piloting drones to map kelp beds and estimate their biomass to the benefit of harvesters, is also an avid kelp pickler.
Collectors are allowed to pick up to 100 kilograms of kelp off the shore, although harvesting from a boat requires a licence.
Walker says the pickled wild kelp stipes — which she also uses to make relish — are extra-crunchy and make a great gift “better than regular pickles.”
“They were a gift of nature so I am giving them away as gifts,” she told the Times Colonist last September.
Walker uses the fermented leftovers for fertilizer.
At a commercial scale, companies like Cascadia Seaweed have grown to become the largest kelp cultivator in Canada.
In 2021, the federal government invested $1.3 million in the company to plant 3.5 hectares of seaweed and then study the relationship between kelp farms and fish biodiversity.
While Driscoll said the company remains the “dominant actor” in B.C., the province’s seaweed industry still has a relatively small footprint.
The concern, he said, is what might come in the future as farming is scaled up into larger, more densely planted operations.
“Canada, definitely B.C., we have unfortunate examples where industries expanded before the regulations were really ready for them, and regulations that had to be kind of built in retrospect or try to catch up,” said Driscoll.
“You really don't want to see that happen here in B.C. with this emerging industry.”
Currently, several provincial and federal agencies, including Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the B.C. Ministry of Agriculture, all have a hand in regulating the industry, but none have specific, comprehensive legislation for seaweed farming.
One key problem identified in the report surrounds the existing B.C. Fish and Seafood Act, which only applies to products intended for human consumption. That leaves farms growing seaweed for other purposes — such as biofuels or fertilizers — with less stringent oversight, the SciTech report found. It also leaves the regulatory burden to provincial-federal teams, which rely on conditions of licence to ensure best practices are met.
Regulatory gaps around growing seaweed were also found to be a threat to marine ecosystems, from genetic disruption of wild seaweed populations to the introduction of non-native species.
As farms scale up production, they also risk increasing competition for sunlight and nutrients with other marine life, and could even entangle marine mammals, found the report.
The most critical regulatory gap, the report notes, is a lack of clear jurisdiction over potential offshore seaweed farms, which have been proposed globally as a climate change mitigation strategy. B.C.'s provincial laws end 12 nautical miles from the coast, leaving a significant legal vacuum in deeper waters.
To close those loopholes, the report recommends launching a “comprehensive conversation” with First Nations to co-develop new policies with all levels of government.
That way, the industry could limit risks and improve chances seaweed farming would have a net benefit on B.C.’s coast.
The report notes that the province’s current work on a new seaweed policy, slated for late 2025, is a positive step.
“What we're trying to do is to make sure that while this industry is still in its relative infancy, the regulations get up to speed,” said Driscoll.
From the industry's perspective, Smith said B.C.'s seaweed growers are still at the starting line, with many operations relying on harvesting in the wild. He said industry is still trying to figure out how to scale up production in the ocean and determine who to sell it to.
“There’s never going to be enough seaweed grown at scale to replace your shopping bag at Save-On-Foods,” said Smith. “But even if we introduced 30 per cent of seaweed into a packaging project, it would create a much better carbon footprint.”
“It’s being done globally. It should be done here.”
Despite regulatory roadblocks, the industry association head said B.C.'s seaweed farming sector is proceeding cautiously and doing so with a focus on science and consultation with First Nations.
“We think there’s significant opportunities but we know we have to walk before we run,” said Smith. “We cannot for a second discount any of those real concerns.”
With files from Carla Wilson/Times Colonist
