Pegasus, Linnaeus, 1758

Barbier, Michèle, Araújo, Rita, Rebours, Céline, Jacquemin, Bertrand, Holdt, Susan L. & Charrier, Bénédicte, 2020, Development and objectives of the PHYCOMORPH European Guidelines for the Sustainable Aquaculture of Seaweeds (PEGASUS), Botanica Marina (Warsaw, Poland) 63 (1), pp. 5-16 : 8-9

PEGASUS emerged from the European network Phycomorph

COST action PHYCOMORPH FA1406

Considering that the potential of seaweed cultivation would be a determinant for the future of the European sustainable production of biomass, the European COST Association (www.cost.eu) funded a project involving a group of experts in seaweed growth and reproduction. Its mission was to build a network dedicated to (1) the advance of knowledge in seaweed biology, (2) capacity-building in the seaweed research community and training of early-stage scientists in macroalgal studies and cultivation, and (3) the preparation of guidelines for sustainable aquaculture of seaweeds in Europe. Over 4 years, the network Phycomorph (www. phycomorph.org) gathered more than 350 scientists of the public and private sectors from 20 European countries and eight additional ones from America, Asia and North Africa. The partnership deployed during the Action led to several oral or poster presentations during conferences (EPC6 London, IPC11 Szczecin) and to the publication of 28 collaborative articles, book chapters and books, among which is Research Topics in Frontiers in Plant Science (2015, open access: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/2598/ from-the-emergence-of-multicellularity-to-complex-bodyarchitectures-update-and-perspectives-on-the#overview). Notably a special issue of Botanica Marina was dedicated to Phycomorph (Botanica Marina , 2017, vol. 60, issue 2: Phycomorph: macroalgal development and morphogenesis, partly open access), which included reports of progress in the identification of the environmental and cellular (including bacteria) parameters controlling life cycle phase transitions and seaweed morphogenesis ( Katsaros et al. 2017, Martins et al. 2017, Weiss et al. 2017) together with a new technique based on infra-red spectrometry to quantify carbohydrate in Ulva blades ( Shefer et al. 2017). More methods developed recently on different aspects of macroalgal biology and cultivation were then published in the book Protocols for macroalgae research ( Charrier et al. 2018).

In addition to publications, capacity-building through 25 short-term scientific missions strengthened bonds between COST members and promoted the development of new research topics. Sixty students acquired new skills in:

(i) seaweed cultivation, (ii) genomics and transcriptomics, (iii) analytical chemistry and (iv) microscopy and cell biology techniques, all focused on macroalgae, through Training Schools and Workshops organized during the past 4 years.

However, evidence quickly arose that the production sector was too tiny and fragile to be able to fully benefit from the European progress made in fundamental knowledge and cutting-edge techniques. Attempts to boost the transfer of academic knowledge to the farming sector was illustrated in a Phycomorph collaborative viewpoint paper ( Charrier et al. 2017). However, for the sector to develop, a broader scope of bottlenecks was to be identified, and then solutions proposed to pass them. Relying on the bonds established during the first 2 years, the network further expanded during the preparation of the guidelines. Experts in seaweed cultivation (fertility, production of juveniles in the hatchery, biomass production from field cultivation, disease, metabolism, genetics and domestication), exploitation (trait definition, biomass conservation, standardization, refinery), research (genetic improvement, cryopreservation, bioprospective) and ethics were contacted throughout the world.

PEGASUS methodology

For 18 months, six coordinators identified based on their complementary expertise, synthesized the contributions of 48 international experts from 20 different countries worldwide to draft the recommendations. In order to always involve a wider community, draft versions have been presented at various international conferences and to several European stakeholder groups: EU Aquaculture Advisory Council (May 2018), Aquaculture Canada 2018 conference, AQUA 2018 (World Aquaculture Society), Annual Scientific Conference of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (Sept 2018). PEGASUS was also opened for international public consultation in December 2018 to receive criticism and improve content accuracy and relevance for all stakeholders. Changes in the direction of progress have regularly been made based on feedback from the European Commission through the involvement of the EU Joint Research Center (which maintains an inventory of European seaweed cultivation companies and production methods). Updates were regularly presented to the DG-MARE (European Commission). The guidelines are divided into eight chapters :

Chapter I – Seaweeds as an opportunity to meet human needs; Chapter II – Economic importance of seaweeds; Chapter III – Seaweed production – Cultivation; Chapter IV – Challenges in the seaweed cultivation process; Chapter V – Challenges in market economy and regulation; Chapter VI – Challenges in food safety; Chapter VII – Research programmes to support sustainable development of seaweed aquaculture; Chapter VIII – Conclusion – Summary of recommendations for the sustainable development of seaweed aquaculture in Europe. It provides a multidimensional framework for the sustainable and profitable development of aquaculture. This 200- page document is open access (http://phycomorph.org/ pegasus-phycomorph-european-guidelines-for-a-sustainable-aquaculture-of-seaweeds) together with a shorter version reviewing the main recommendations and a flyer. These later documents were designed to ease the reading and understanding of the guidelines for policymakers, industries as well as society.

PEGASUS recommendations

PEGASUS performed both a thorough analysis of the current state of European production and identification of challenges and bottlenecks that currently prevent the development of the seaweed aquaculture sector in Europe, as summarized in the sections above. The aim is to contribute to the development of maritime economic activities while preserving the marine environment. It should be considered as a technical and scientific advice tool provided to all stakeholders.

Inter alia, PEGASUS provides specific details on the regulatory framework that currently applies to the production and consumption of seaweeds as food or food supplements. PEGASUS helps to reveal this multidimensional sector, which has noticeable economic, social and environmental dimensions, and less understandable technological, legal and marketing aspects that also contribute to its development. These guidelines are fully in line with the recommendations of the United Nations guidance document ( Cottier-Cook et al. 2016). PEGASUS specifically aims to better understand the current situation in Europe in terms of seaweed cultivation and production, food safety and legislation, with details on the status of development in the main producing countries.

The guidelines also identified what research topics should be prioritized in the future to support the sustainable development of the seaweed industry. The main recommendations are summarized below.