Theme 4 : Marine biological resources / Fishing and aquaculture

Macroalgae that grow naturally along the shores of the Channel produce a significant range of substances for industrial use – polysaccharides, proteins, pigments, etc. Among these algae, the red seaweed, Palmaria palmata, is the most sought-after by the food-processing, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries. This seaweed is also rich in the minerals calcium, magnesium and potassium, and in the vitamins B9, A and B12 that are naturally found in and specific to red algae and that may be absent from land plants, as is the case with vitamin B12.
The increasing scarcity of this natural resource and its seasonal harvesting make the seaweed difficult to incorporate into industrial products and processes.

The CARPP project will draw up a protocol for culturing Palmaria palmata, controlling its reproductive cycle, and setting up a red algae production industry that will provide the human and animal foodstuff manufacturers, as well as the cosmetics industry, with a supply of raw material in the form of high quality seaweed throughout the year. The industry will be structured in such a way that it will be able to predict and tailor production according to market demand.

This study will allow the various stages of maturation, growth and reproduction of Palmaria palmata to be controlled, and will perfect the techniques required for growing it in tanks and in the marine environment.

In addition, expertise and techniques developed for artificially maturing this species will ultimately be transferred to closely related seaweeds that possess interesting vegetable and mineral-related proteins.

CARPP project partners

Companies

• Aléor, company culturing and processing marine macroalgae equipped with a laboratory and on-growing unit, Lézardrieux, project director,

• La Belle Fermanvillaise, company specialising in the production, maturing and sale of top quality oysters, Fermanville.

Research centre

• University of Caen Basse-Normandie – Institut de Biologie Fondamentale et Appliquée (Institute of fundamental and applied biology), Laboratoire de Physiologie et d’Ecophysiologie des Mollusques Marins (Laboratory studying the physiology and ecophysiology of marine molluscs), IFREMER 100 mixed research team.

Additional partner

• Syndicat Mixte pour l’Equipement du Littoral (SMEL – Mixed syndicate for the development of coastal facilities and services), an organisation focusing on technical and scientific work with professionals from the shellfish and fishing industries, and committed to programmes promoting innovation, Blainville sur Mer.

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