A new Catalyst: Seeding grant (NZ$80,000) will bring together leading bull kelp researchers from New Zealand, Australia, and Chile in an ambitious collaboration to accelerate the commercial cultivation of Durvillaea spp. Led by Professor Lindsey White (AUT), the project aims to integrate hatchery and farming innovations with Indigenous and international expertise to advance a scalable, sustainable bull kelp industry.
This initiative builds on several years of foundational research funded by the Blue Economy Cooperative Research Centre (CRC). This work, led by Assoc. Prof Jeff Wright (UTas), Paul South (Cawthron Institute) and Lindsey White, supported critical advances in hatchery propagation techniques and reproductive biology for bull kelp. Despite successes in the lab, challenges remain in achieving consistent at-sea growth—making this new partnership particularly timely.
The grant has enabled an expanded research team, which now includes Chilean seaweed expert Professor Alejandro Buschmann (Universidad de Los Lagos), whose group brings deep experience in cultivating Durvillaea antarctica. The collaboration also includes Dr Haydn Read, representing new Māori partners Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, through their commercial arm Te Huata, who are investing in large-scale offshore aquaculture in the Eastern Bay of Plenty. Their eight permitted seaweed research sites provide a rare opportunity to test and scale cultivation at commercial levels.
Professor Lindsey White, Seafood and Marine Products Program Leader states, “This again demonstrates the value of our CRC, leveraging our existing research investments to bring together expertise from across the Pacific.”
By combining technical expertise, cultural leadership, and real-world farming sites, the Catalyst-funded project will refine propagation techniques, enable knowledge transfer across hemispheres, and position the Pacific region as a global hub for bull kelp aquaculture. Importantly, this new funding cements the Blue Economy CRC’s legacy as a springboard for enduring international seaweed research partnerships.
