South Coast Seaweed is an Indigenous Aquaculture Initiative on the Far South Coast focused on creating a sustainable eco friendly industry that researches traditional knowledge and harvests seaweed to create modern resources.
Indigenous Australians have been living off the land for over 10,000 years, taking what they needed and using traditional knowledge and practices which made food and resources sustainable for generations.
Known to the local YUIN people (Indigenous people of the far south coast NSW) as NA-NOO-MA, Seaweed has been apart of Australian culture since the first nation Indigenous people from growing herbal plants and medicine and collecting different seaweeds as food, or using on their skin and as a way to fish.
Aboriginal Australians are connected to ocean passing down traditional knowledge, generation to generation. Fishing, diving and living off the land taking only what was needed, using the earliest forms of agriculture and aquaculture to have a sustainable lifestyle that provided sustainable resources for animals and humans alike.
The Salt Water People of the Yuin nation have a connection to the South East Coast of the Great Southern Reef and the abundance of resources it provides can sustain the seafood industry for 100s of years.
If we put in practice the traditional methods of aquaculture and marine vegetation, it will not only create jobs in our region but reconnect indigenous people to the land while restoring habitat and providing an eco friendly solution to climate change.
This traditional knowledge is imperative to the survival of our marine life.
South Coast Seaweed
Seaweed has always been apart of Australian history (also known as sea kelp) With over 300 different types of kelp across NSW and hundreds more being identified across the country. There are thousands of different products being created all over the world using seaweed as a main resource for both traditional, modern and industrial uses.
Seaweed is being used in Food, Health & Wellbeing, Cosmetics, Pharmaceuticals, Gardening, Home Décor, Fishing, Clothing, Lollies, Dairy products, Ice creams, Fabrics and so much more.
Most people don't know kelp is a type of algae that grows underwater and there are 3 major groups
Brown algae (Phaeophyceae)
Green algae (Chlorophyta)
Red algae (Rhodophyta).
They have no roots, leaves or stems to transport water or nutrients. Instead each cell derives what it needs directly from the seawater around it. The only similarity between seaweed and land plants is that both rely on sunlight to create energy through photosynthesis.
