Fishing for seaweed!

Furcellaria (Furcellaria lumbricalis) was the target species for a lucrative commercial fishery in Denmark. The fishery was at it's peak in the years between 1945-1965. Furcellaria was used to produce "danish agar", "furcellaran" or simply "Danagar", which is a stabilisor and gastronomic binder which was used in the making of winegums, ice cream, pills among others. Unfortunately the seaweed was overfished and the fishery died out. The last weed-fisher ended his career in Nysted in the late 1990's. 

Will it be possible to utilise this marin ressource, but in a more sustainable manner? At the moment, Aquamind is exploring the abundance of furcellaria in specific areas in Denmark. This is done to estimate the biomass and if there is a possbility that this fishery can be evolved. So far we've seen large areas with furcellaria stretching for miles in an old "hotspot" in Nysted. Furthermore, each season we are collecting samples for analysis in Bioactives DTU Food.