April 27, 2023

Aquaculture firm aims to build world's largest open-ocean megafarm

Seafields, a London-based aquaculture company that aims to remove billions of tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere each year by growing and harvesting floating seaweed in the Atlantic Ocean, has announced the opening of its first-ever private, seven-figure investment round to build the world's largest open-ocean megafarm, Bdaily reported.

Seafields is inviting investors to contribute to its mission of removing over 1Gt (one billion metric tonnes) of CO2 from the atmosphere each year by 2032 by developing and testing new technologies focused on growing and capturing Sargassum, a seaweed that has escaped its normal environment in the Sargasso Sea and has exploded in growth in the last two decades.

The round of funding comes after the company successfully tested the world's first floating aquafarm paddock, a floating, flexible aquafarm structure that is the first step towards farming in the open ocean.

Seafields is seeking funding to scale and begin the megafarm construction in the next proof of concept phase. The farm will expand modularly until it reaches approximately 94,000 sq km, which is slightly larger than Portugal.

By baling and storing large amounts of seaweed in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean, the company is storing physical carbon for thousands of years while causing no harm to the ecosystem.

Seafields is addressing past and ongoing emissions and intends to sell offset credits in the voluntary carbon market to aid in the transition to a net zero society. They also extract valuable products from seaweed before sinking it in order to replace current fossil-fuel-based products and avoid future emissions.

-       Bdaily