Greenwave Aotearoa is cultivating Ecklonia radiata, a native brown seaweed in New Zealand waters.
Photo: Adobe Stock
New Zealand’s first commercial seaweed farm using Norwegian company Arctic Seaweed’s modular cultivation technology has been deployed off Rakiura, also known as Stewart Island, in the south of the country.
The project is being led by Rakiura fisherman Zane Smith and Greenwave Aotearoa, a New Zealand seaweed-industry initiative led by environmental investment and advisory company EnviroStrat in partnership with the US non-profit GreenWave.
The initiative aims to develop cultivation expertise, commercial opportunities and a domestic supply chain for farmed native seaweed.
According to Greenwave Aotearoa, the Rakiura installation is the first commercial seaweed farm in New Zealand to use Arctic Seaweed’s modular system, and the first deployment of the technology in the Southern Hemisphere.
The organisation made its first purchase of Arctic Seaweed infrastructure in mid-2025, and signed a licence and distribution agreement with the Norwegian company in October last year to enable joint exploration of manufacturing Arctic Seaweed's aquaculture systems in New Zealand for deployment in Oceania and beyond.
In December 2025, the organisation completed the first commercial harvest of Ecklonia radiata seaweed from its farming site in Hauraki Gulf off the North Island of New Zealand.
The Rakiura project received funding from Te Puni Kōkiri’s Māori Development Fund, which supports Māori businesses and economic development initiatives. Greenwave Aotearoa said the investment would help build technical expertise and business knowledge while creating new uses for Māori-owned marine assets that are currently underused.
“The farm demonstrates how strategic investment can support Māori enterprise, innovation, and sustainable economic development,” Smith said.
The deployment followed several years of work on the seaweed supply chain, including sourcing native species, inducing spores in a hatchery, developing cultivation methods and exploring potential products.
The organisation says it now plans to deploy Arctic Seaweed systems elsewhere in Oceania.
Greenwave Aotearoa said the initiative "reflects the strength of international collaboration," noting the mix of international expertise, local contractors and other support in developing the project.
"This milestone has only been possible through an extraordinary group of partners who have shared expertise, funding, engineering capability and belief in what New Zealand's native seaweed sector can become," the organisation stated.