seaweed harvest
OrganicOcean is harvesting brown seaweeds in a sustainable way in the cold and pure waters of the St-Lawrence Estuary in the province of Quebec in Canada. OrganicOcean holds a harvest permit from Fisheries and Oceans Canada. We harvest the brown seaweeds Ascophyllum nodosum, Saccharina longicruris and Fucus vesiculosus. Most of our products are manufactured from fresh Ascophyllum nodosum.
Our harvesting techniques are environmentally friendly and allow the regeneration of the algal resource. The harvest is done at low tide and the seaweed is hand cut with a sickle at a minimum 15 cm from the holdfast. Only 15 to 20% of the total biomass is harvested and the harvest sites are exploited only every 3 years.
seaweed and adaptation to stress
In the St-Lawrence Estuary, the cold water seaweed Ascophyllum nodosum is subjected to tide cycle and exposed daily to severe environmental stresses including desiccation, salinity, frost and extreme temperature variations. This seaweed is well adapted to grow in these rough conditions and this adaptation is reflected in its biochemical composition that includes a unique spectrum of protective biopolymers, antioxidants and growth stimulants.
quality and traceability
Our raw material supply is completely traceable and each seaweed batch is associated to a geographic area delimited by GPS points. The quality control is taken in charge by our scientific team. The integration of seaweed harvest in our exclusive manufacturing process allows to guarantee the quality and the composition of the starting raw material and also the performance of our line of seaweed-based products.
ROCKWEED BIOLOGY
Rockweed (Ascophyllum nodosum) is the dominant brown seaweed in the intertidal zone along the Atlantic coastline of the eastern Canada. This seaweed occurs in a wide range of waves exposures. Rockweed is an olive-green seaweed forming long smooth and flat strips without midrib and topped with bladders. It has complex branching structures with V branching and side branches. This seaweed is attached to rocks or bedrocks by a resistant holdfast. This seaweed reached length between 1 and 3 m.
As the tide rises, the plant floats by means of gas bladders (vesicles) on the shoot. In the spring, specialized bladders (receptacles) form on the sides of shoots. These are reproductive structures containing either egg or sperm producing tissues. Reproductive products are released in the late spring to early summer and the receptacles fall off after release.The majority of the new shoot arise from basal holdfast tissues. Holdfast are long lived and can exceed 40 years old. Growth occurs at the distal ends of the branches. Length increases on each main branch from 10 to 20 cm per year.
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