The Scottish Association for Marine Science celebrated further seaweed success at this year’s Aquaculture Awards after the co-ordinator of the newly launched Seaweed Academy picked up one of the top awards.

Rhianna Rees was jointly awarded the Rising Star award at the ceremony in Aviemore alongside Andre Van of Kames Fish Farm.

The award comes a week after the launch of the Seaweed Academy, the UK’s first dedicated seaweed industry facility, using the research knowledge generated at SAMS to offer advice to start-ups, train workers and share the latest research to help businesses develop. The £400,000 funding for the project came from the UK Government’s Community Renewal Fund.

The success of the Seaweed Academy launch at SAMS, which attracted nearly 200 people and hundreds more virtual attendees, demonstrated the huge scope of interest in seaweed cultivation in the UK and Europe.

As a precursor to the launch event, 200 primary school children visited SAMS to learn more about seaweed, its uses and its potential. Other invited guests had the chance to visit the SAMS seaweed farm and the seaweed nursery, where seed stock is grown and ready to be deployed on seaweed farms.

The full news story from SAMS can be found here.