On Saturday, May 30th, the Fukuoka City-sponsored "Seaweed Cycle - Picking Up, Investigating, and Nurturing the Sea" event was held for the first time on Shikanoshima Island (Higashi Ward, Fukuoka City). On the day, Lecturer Yoichi Sano of Faculty of Life Science and four fourth-year students belonging to his laboratory also joined in to provide support, and 54 participants collected seaweed (drift seaweed) that had been torn from the seabed by waves and currents and washed ashore, in addition to collecting washed-up debris.
The collected seaweed will be used in initiatives aimed at restoring seaweed beds, which are being carried out in collaboration with the Fukuoka City Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Bureau.
In recent years, the decline of seaweed beds has become a problem, affecting local fisheries. This initiative is being developed as a socially applicable research project utilizing fulvic acid*, which the lecturer is researching, as an approach to this problem. It aims to achieve both the return of research results to the local community and the resolution of environmental issues.
This research began when Lecturer Sano's research on fulvic acid and the issue of seaweed bed decline in Fukuoka City came together through the "VISION DAY Humanities x Sciences x Arts = Exhibition" held at our university.
*Fulvic acid: A type of organic acid found in soil and water, known to promote the growth of organisms. Focusing on these properties, research is underway to utilize fulvic acid as a nutrient for algae to promote the growth of algae adapted to the current marine environment.
[Faculty of Life Science / Industry-Academia Co-innovation and Research Promotion Headquarters]
