Chinese visitors meet BioMara scientists
A delegation of Chinese scientists visiting the Scottish Marine Institute in June were given a presentation on seaweed research by Dr Maeve Kelly
Dr Maeve Kelly met with the delegation from the Oceanic and Fishery Administration of Shandong Province and the Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, who visited the Scottish Marine Institute in June 2010.
In the party were representatives from academia, fisheries and local government, including delegates from the Rongcheng area of Shandong province, home of some the largest seaweed cultivation areas in the world. The delegates were very interested in marine spatial planning and making more effective use of coastal resources.
Dr Kelly talked to them about the research at the institute, conducted as part of BioMara, which is focussing on the potential of cultivating seaweed for use as biofuel.
The seaweed cultivation methods used in Scotland are very similar to those used to produce the vast tonnage (approximately 9 million tonnes) of seaweed grown in China. The possible integration of seaweed culture with other forms of aquaculture or other types of marine renewable energy was explored as the concept of 'offshore energy / aquaculture islands'. BioMara is researching ways to optimise the biogas yield from cultured seaweeds.
Currently in China seaweed culture is labour intensive and largely harvested by hand. Dr Kelly and delegates from Rongcheng discussed drawing on Scottish and New Zealand mussel farming technology to improve the automation of seaweed harvesting.
Chinese delegates who met with Dr Kelly
Oceanic and Fishery Administration of Shandong Province
Yingmin HOU the director of Oceanic and Fishery Administration of Shandong Province,
Xi’ning XU director of Oceanic and Fishery Administration of Rongcheng Municipal, Shandong Province
Weiyuan XIANG the chairman of Jinghai Group Company of Shandong Province
Huiwu YIN the chairman of Rongma Fishery Corp in Weihai Municipal
Yunling WU vice director of International Affairs Department, Oceanic and Fishery Administration of Shandong Province
Junxue MEI associate professor of Marine School, Weihai Branch School of Shandong University
Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Cheng TANG associate professor, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Lingyu GAO professor, vice director of Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences
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