Speaker

The Faculty of Biosciences and Aquaculture at Nord University is an international arena for education and research that meets global challenges in food production, climate and the environment. The faculty has staff and students from more than 30 countries at campuses in Bodø and Steinkjer. Its academic areas of research include Algae and Microbial Biotechnology, Aquaculture, Ecology, and Genomics.

Presentation: 

While focused strain development to optimize size, growth rate, and disease resistance remains confined to Asia, selective harvest of parent material to improve farming is more widespread. Precautionary management with respect to the issue of “escaped” genetic material from farms has usually come in the form of radius-based restrictions on where parent material for farmed kelp can be sourced. This assumes distance is the primary driver of genetic differentiation and can limit access to the best available cultivation strains. Previously, a genetic study from the Norway focused on a small number of markers suggested that environment may be more important than distance in determining genetic population structure. A new whole genome sequencing effort of farmed and wild kelp from the Norwegian coastline reveals that cultivation method alters kelp genetics significantly. In light of this new information, I suggest an alternative management structure to facilitate strain development while protecting wild populations. These results apply to kelp farmed anywhere in the world, providing foundational knowledge for the expansion of kelp farming at regional to national scales.