The MARINER program addresses a critical challenge that land production systems are unlikely to solve. How do we meet growing global biofuel needs and also meet the 50 to 100 percent increase in demand for food expected by 2050? Seaweed farming avoids the growing competition for fertile land, energy intensive fertilizers, and freshwater resources associated with traditional agriculture.

—Scott Lindell, who is leading the research effort at WHOI

With $3.7 million, Lindell and a team of seaweed biologists, geneticists and entrepreneurs will develop a breeding program for sugar kelp—Saccharina latissima, one of the most commercially important species—using the latest gene sequencing and genomic resources for faster, more accurate and efficient selective breeding. The breeding program will build a library of genetic resources associated with plant traits that produce a 20 to to 30 percent improvement over wild plants. Lindell says the team expects to develop novel genomic tools that will accelerate the production of improved plants while decreasing the need for costly offshore field evaluations.

Partners in the project include: University of Connecticut-Stamford, which will develop the kelp strains and families for breeding; the USDA Agriculture Research Service at Cornell, which will apply DNA sequencing and genomic analysis to direct selective breeding for important traits; and GreenWave, which will operate the open ocean farming system for field trials of the selectively bred families.

The remaining $2 million in funding will be used by a team from the Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering department to develop an autonomous underwater observation system for monitoring large-scale seaweed farms for extended periods of time without human intervention.

An illustration of the autonomous underwater observation system the WHOI team will develop for extended monitoring of large-scale seaweed farms. A REMUS (Remote Environmental Monitoring UnitS) 100 vehicle outfitted with acoustic, optical, and environmental sensors will monitor seaweed growth and health, equipment status, and water column properties. A REMUS docking station allows the vehicle to recharge and transmit data. Illustration by Natalie Renier, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Click to enlarge.

The really cool thing about the ARPA-E MARINER program is that it funds both the development of the farming technology and the development of the monitoring technology side-by-side.

—researcher Erin Fischell, who will lead the vehicle project

The WHOI team will outfit an unmanned underwater vehicle with acoustic, optical, and environmental sensors to monitor seaweed growth and health, equipment status, and water column properties, such as nutrient content.

The WHOI-lead project teams will collaborate with a third MARINER project awarded to a team led by the University of Alaska Fairbanks. That project is developing scale model seaweed farms capable of producing sugar kelp for less than $100 per dry metric ton. Lindell will lead biological sampling and testing at seaweed farm sites in New England—Nantucket Sound and Long Island Sound—and Alaska.