Seaweed absorbs aquaculture industry wastes, preserves biodiversity

Technology that uses seaweed to absorb the wastes of salmon farming while providing feed for aquaculture in Chile has won Fundacion Terram the 2007 Tech Museums Award environment prize. Their brilliant system addresses multiple ocean crises arising from the country’s booming aquaculture industry that are affecting Chile’s wild fish populations and biodiversity. Salmon farming is producing immense nitrogen waste and abalone breeding is depleting natural seaweed.

They attach seaweed seedlings to long lines around salmon farms. The seaweed's growth is accelerated as it thrives on the salmon wastes and cleanses them from the water. In turn, the seaweed provides an abundant food source for abalone, so natural plants are not over-harvested. The organization also trains low-income groups to cultivate the eco-friendly seaweed.

Terram Foundation is a non-profit organization whose aim is to generate new proposals for the sustainable development of Chile. The Foundation was created in 1997, as a result of the work and effort of a diverse group of professionals: economist Marcel Claude, engineer Pedro Serrano, philosopher Pablo Salvat, lawyer Fernando Escobar, forestry engineer Antonio Lara, and architect Miriam Urzúa.

Terram’s main fields of work are research, publications and outreach, within a scope of social and environmental justice. The work areas are democracy, promotion of citizens’ participation, social empowerment, prevention and improvement of living conditions, and conservation and protection of ecosystems within a framework of sustainability and efficiency as mainstream criteria for Chile’s sustainable development. Terram’s work is structured around four programs: salmon farming, the environment, natural resources, and economics and globalization.

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