Údarás Na Gaeltachta hosted a “Seimineár Feamainn” in the Connemara Coast Hotel on Wednesday 15th January 2020. An tÚdarás has always recognised the importance of the marine resource to the creation of sustainable local and regional economic development opportunities. This event was a key initiative under the SW-Grow EU project that is funded by The Northern Periphery and Arctic 2014-2020 Programme of which Údarás is a project partner. SW-Grow’s objective is to increase economic opportunities in the seaweed industry by developing innovative working practices that can be widely adopted by the related SMEs in the NPA region.
The event was opened by Cliodhna Ní Ghríofa, the project officer for SW-Grow, where she described the work involved and the projected outcomes of the project alongside her project partner Ronan Sulpice of NUIG. Other expert speakers included Dr. Mark White, Údarás na Gaeltachta, Freddie O Mahony from Carton Point Shellfish, Dr. Maria Hayes from Teagasc, Dr.Julie Maguire from BMRS, James Burke, Jim Keogh from Arramara Teo, Wayne Murphy from Hatch, John Quinlan, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and Teresa Morrissey from the IFA.
It is evident that there is a strong interest in the seaweed industry – 120 people were in attendance from start-ups to well-developed companies such as Ross Campbell from CyberCollids Ltd. and state agencies such as Bord Bia. Detailed information was shared on past developments within the industry such as Teagasc’s developments in bioactive peptides from seaweed to promote heart health, the efficient use of the protein found in seaweed and their functional applications in the food industry, to current projects in BMRS that are examining the best native Irish seaweeds demonstrating anti-methanogenic properties.
Download a copy of the presentations below
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