Construction of Fremantle pilot plant now well underway
SeaStock has secured an agreement with the Geraldton Fishermen's Co-operative on a commercial lease to establish a pilot plant to cultivate Asparagopsis taxiformis onshore in Fremantle Fishing Boat Harbour.
The team is currently hard at work making sure our facility is fit for purpose, with the expectation that we will be operational by May '23 and work in tandem with the research team at Flinders University across Adelaide and Perth.
The plant is being set up to help us to develop cultivation IP methods within a pilot plant setting to facilitate scale up and to showcase cultivation methods to potential clients and partners for further growth opportunities.
It will also serve as a central point for the management and monitoring of SeaStock operations in the midst of the beautiful Harbour which we are very happy about! A big thanks to GFC CEO Matt Rutter and the team for facilitating the new lease and for their ongoing support.
Welcome to our Inaugural Investors
Thank you to all of those who participated in our recent capital raise. The funds received will be used to drive the next phase of our strategic plan.
There are a number of capital-intensive strategic goals that we would like to achieve in the short to mid-term that will help underwrite our transition to commercial production.
While our core focus remains on the production of natural methane reducing feed additives for ruminant livestock, we will also be actively exploring adjacent markets and growth opportunities which are outlined below.
The funding we have so far received will also be directed towards supporting SeaStock’s patent protection application covering our unique onshore cultivation method and towards ongoing research by the marine science team at Flinders University.
Please contact our team via our website if you would like to enquire about future investment opportunities.
Seaweed Symposium Hobart
Our team, alongside our research partners from the marine science unit at Flinders University, joined presenters, delegates and industry representatives from countries across the globe including the United States, the UK, South Korea, NZ, Brazil, the Caribbean, Japan, Canada Scotland, Malaysia, Denmark and France for the 24th International Seaweed Symposium in Hobart this week.
Our team heard from presenters spanning small business, large corporations, academia and government on a diverse range of seaweed related topics including the role of seaweed in reducing global warming, creating a scalable, sustainable global industry, how the local seaweed industry is aligning with the Federal Government's agenda for aquaculture development and emissions reduction and took at tour of the University of Tasmania's Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, the CSRIO and the beautiful city of Hobart.
There is a global focus on ensuring the Seaweed industry is adequately resourced to realise its potential across a range of industries and ensuring it is able to develop at scale in a sustainable way.
Expansion to adjacent markets
While SeaStock’s medium and long-term goals remain to develop and refine the method of Asparagopsis cultivation for methane reduction in ruminant livestock, the company has also identified other applications, products and global markets for natural compounds derived from seaweed.
Seaweed-based compounds are used in a broad range of additional products that the company is also actively exploring, including food and beverage ingredients, natural pigments, cosmetics, skincare and high-value pharmaceutical applications.
A number of other compounds derived from Asparagopsis taxiformis, have been shown to have high commercial value, especially at therapeutic grade, and have a wide range of commercial applications according to SeaStock research partners, Flinders University.
Some of the compounds which have been successfully extracted are recognised for their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-allergen, anti-virus and tumour-suppressing capabilities, among others. Other applications include use as a natural pigment to replace potentially harmful artificial dyes in food and confectionary products and as an active and colour ingredient in cosmetic products.
SeaStock Managing Director, Tom Puddy, said the commercial applications for a range of seaweed-based compounds suitable for a variety of industries presented a further opportunity for SeaStock to broaden its commercial strategy to service the growing demand for sustainably produced seaweed-based raw ingredients.
“The IP we have created can be replicated beyond the Asparagopsis variety of seaweed, which will allow SeaStock to discover future seaweed compounds that occur naturally along the West Australian coastline,” he said.
Below the deck - an introduction to CTO Tom Chaney
Tom made the transition from working in the oil and gas industry within a research and development technology group to his evolving role as SeaStock’s CTO in September last year.
He said that while he loved the technical and innovative nature of the work he was doing, he felt that due to the increasing cost of the resource (both financial and ecological) his time was effectively being wasted on coming up with band-aid solutions which had a definite shelf life.
“Listening to Tom discuss SeaStock, both its aspirations and also the methodical, down to earth pathways that had already been laid out to achieve these goals, I realised that to make a real, tangible difference to our current crisis you didn’t have to sacrifice profitability,” Tom said.
“In fact it could indeed be the only way to stay profitable in the mid to long term.”
While Tom says the transition and learning curve in a new industry has been steep at times, it has been a deeply satisfying one. “As the team grows both internally and through our research partnership with Flinders University, I feel incredibly lucky to be working in this industry and with such an efficient, focused but laid back team.”
When not transforming our pilot plant from the ground up or tinkering in the lab, Tom’s remaining spare time is spent renovating his home in East Fremantle and juggling family life with his wife and three young kids.
