Abrolhos Islands seaweed growers fight cattle pollution

A cutting edge project using seaweed grown at the Abrolhos Islands to reduce methane from cows is underway, with the first commercial harvest taking place.

Asparagopsis, a red seaweed native to the Abrolhos Islands, has been found to reduce methane emissions in cattle when fed to them.

WA company Seastock is working with an Abrolhos aquaculture farm to grow the seaweed on lines repurposed from pearling operations.

“We collect material from 60 lines, each 100 or 200m long,” managing director Tom Puddy said.

The harvested seaweed is processed and will go on to cattle farms across Australia, with hopes to sell to locations such as Japan, South Korea, South America and the Middle East.

Research from Meat and Livestock Australia, CSIRO and James Cook University found feedlots with under 1 per cent of asparagopsis caused methane production in cattle to drop by 95 per cent.

Methane production from livestock is estimated to cause 14.5 per cent of global greenhouse emissions.

The CSIRO said if just 10 per cent of global livestock producers used asparagopsis as a feed ingredient, it would be equivalent to getting rid of 100 million cars.

Seastock works with researchers at Flinders University and there is optimism that more research in seaweed genetics will lead to more effective output.

The company also hopes to keep expanding its production and is looking to start an onshore production system with the Geraldton Fishermen‘s Cooperative.

It aims to initially produce around 12 tonnes of product a year, but Mr Puddy hopes that with more expansion and research that number can grow to 7000 tonnes.

“We’re looking to be a sustainable producer and we’re going about it with science to back up our investments to make it more efficient,” Mr Puddy said.