Zeemos project
Seaweed is booming the last years. It can be a sustainable source of food, feed and components in applications. More and more seaweed farmers are looking for locations to produce seaweed off shore and nearshore. Several studies have shown that the space in the southwestern Delta of the Netherlands is very limited. It turns out that most possibilities lies in using the open space (30% not used) at mussel rope cultures plots for seaweed. Theoretically the organisms mussel and seaweed (both lower in the food chain) may have a possible influence on each other. On the other hand there also may negative feedback loops between the two.
In the so-called ZEEMOS project different seaweed and mussel rope culture farmers are testing the possible and negative mutual effects on 3 different production locations (Lake Veere, Oosterschelde, North Sea). In this three year project HZ University of Applied Sciences will, in the first year characterize the three production locations in terms of nutrient and microalgae concentrations, retention time and other water quality parameters. This is carried out by the combination of online sensoring and large measuring campaigns. In the second and third year HZ will perform larger manipulative experiments how different combinations of seaweed and mussels effects production, water quality and hydrodynamics.