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Cropping Seaweed

The Japanese taste for seaweed may gain a boost from research at Massey University's Zoology Department, where Dr Charles O'Kelly is investigating local karengo species with the long-term plan of growing and harvesting the seaweed.

Seaweed has a complicated reproductive cycle, undergoing phases of sexual and asexual reproduction. O'Kelly is studying this behaviour to investigate the conditions that stimulate the various phases in karengo life history. He hopes to develop selected strains of karengo that can be actively cultivated, rather than the "mongrel" seaweed that is currently being harvested on an informal basis.

O'Kelly compares the current seaweed situation with that of the wine industry, suggesting the need to develop an appreciation of seaweed and to produce a recognised, value-added product. Given New Zealand's clean waters and experience in aquaculture, O'Kelly believes that karengo could become a major export in the future.

"We can be competitive if we put an effort into it," he maintains.

At present, his seaweed sits in culture dishes in environmentally-controlled cabinets. O'Kelly admits that, while things are well set up at Massey for the culture research, the land-locked university site is not the best place for farming tests.