CIE Seminar Series – 2020: “Towards a sustainable production of Osmundea pinnatifida” and “CR-P Seaweed solutions for sustainable Aquaculture”

Admin Seminars 2020

SPEAKER: Dr Cecilia Biancacci, PostDoctoral Researcher (Warrnambool Campus) Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University

DATE & TIME: Friday, 31st July 2020 @ 12:00 noon

LOCATION: Seminar to be streamed via Zoom. Click HERE to connect.

ABSTRACT.

Seaweed aquaculture is a growing sector worldwide, increasing dramatically in the past 50 years. Wild harvesting of seaweed biomass is not sustainable in the long-term and it is affected by the seasonality of the biomass. Hence, cultivation represents the preferred option for future exploitation of commercially interesting seaweeds.

Farmed seaweed production accounts approximately for 97% of the global seaweed supply, with just over 30 million tonnes wwt in 2016, reaching a value of US$11.7 billion. It is widely recognized that seaweeds are valuable resources, with various commercial applications in food, feed, fertilizer, cosmetics, textile, nutraceutical, and pharmaceutical products, as well as biofilters in Integrated Multitrophic Aquaculture systems (IMTA).

Here is presented a Ph.D. thesis that focused on the cultivation, biochemical composition and potential commercial applications of a less-known red seaweed, O. pinnatifida, and it is given an overview of the “Seaweed Solutions for Sustainable Aquaculture” CRC-P project, that aims to facilitate the cultivation of Australian kelps together with Atlantic salmon and blue mussels in eastern Tasmania, providing the understanding needed to guide both industry and decision-makers in the development of sustainable Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) in Tasmania and south-eastern Australia.

BIO.

Post Doc Research Fellow at Warrnambool campus within the project “CRC-P Seaweed Solutions for Sustainable Aquaculture”, currently investigating the potential of seaweed cultivation in Tasmania in an integrated Multitrophic Aquaculture (IMTA) system.

My role in the project is to optimize the cultivation methodologies of the Australian seaweeds investigated and to perform biochemical analyses of the biomass, to identify potential markets for the final products.

My main research interest centers around aquaculture of different organisms and species, with a focus on seaweed and their potential commercial applications. I have a Bachelor in Biological Sciences (University of Tor Vergata, Italy), a Master in Marine Bio-ecology (University of Cagliari, Italy), and a Ph.D. in Marine Biology (SAMS, UK), with more than 7 years of experience in the aquaculture field, including microalgae, invertebrates, and macroalgae.

For more info click HERE.

As a courtesy, we request that when connecting to the seminar that you mute your microphone unless you are required to speak, this would ensure that the sound from the speaker to the audience is not disrupted by feedback from your microphone.

Thanking you in advance!