The Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC), through the Blue Horizon: Ocean Relief through Seaweed Aquaculture Project, convened the Second Seaweed Technical Working Group (2-STWG) Meeting from 5–7 May 2026 in Bangkok, Thailand. The meeting gathered 29 participants from ASEAN Member States, regional organizations, technical experts, and partner institutions to advance collaboration toward a more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient seaweed industry in Southeast Asia.
Building on the outcomes of the first regional technical working group meeting held in 2025, the 2-STWG Meeting focused on refining two major regional outputs under the Blue Horizon Project:
- the Guide to Promoting a Sustainable Seaweed Industry in Southeast Asia and
- the Regional Principles and Toolkits for Responsible and Safe Seaweed Aquaculture.
Discussions highlighted common regional concerns, including declining seedstock quality, disease outbreaks, climate-related risks, fluctuating prices, limited downstream processing, and the need to strengthen gender and social inclusion in the seaweed sector.
Participants exchanged experiences on seaweed farming systems, policy frameworks, value-chain development, and market access, while identifying priority areas such as climate resilience, biosecurity, governance, processing and value addition, and market competitiveness. The meeting also benefited from technical inputs from the Global Seaweed Coalition (GSC), represented by Prof. Dr. Lim Phaik-Eem, who emphasized the growing importance of sustainability standards and traceability in global seaweed markets.
As part of the meeting highlights, participants conducted a field visit to a seaweed farm and seaweed processing and research facilities in Phetchaburi Province, providing firsthand insights into innovations, farming technologies, and operational challenges in seaweed aquaculture.
The meeting reaffirmed Southeast Asia’s commitment to strengthening regional cooperation and developing harmonized approaches for sustainable seaweed aquaculture and blue economy development. The outputs generated from the meeting will guide the continued drafting and validation of regional frameworks to support sustainable seaweed value chains across the region.
Words by Mr. Muhamad Nour and Joseph Faisan, Jr.
Thumbnail: Photo by Kamil Pietrzak on Unsplash
About Blue Horizon
Blue Horizon: Ocean Relief through Seaweed Aquaculture is a Global Environment Facility (GEF)-funded regional project implemented through WWF-US as the GEF Agency and SEAFDEC as the Lead Regional Executing Agency. The project supports sustainable seaweed aquaculture development, regional cooperation, and resilient seaweed value chains in Southeast Asia from 2024–2028.