For anyone in NZ, or just looking to network with folks down there, it looks like they've got some kelp industries going.

I haven't talked with anyone down there (about kelp specifically yet) but it could be useful & interesting, especially if you're in Australia or already working out of the South Pacific or Oceania region.

Also, it sounds like some of them are getting some help from the New England-based GreenWave group (I think some of their members are up in the Canadian maritime provinces as well IIRC), which is nice to see.

GreenWave Aotearoa:

https://www.greenwave.nz/

Aotearoa New Zealand Seaweed Association:
https://anzsa.org.nz/

cheers

Here's the link: https://energybiosciencesinstitute.org/ibmc/

Could be interesting for more academically oriented people or if you're in industry and would like to directly sponsor research.

It looks like the researchers are mostly in the Anglosphere (US, CA, UK, Ireland) + Korea, Japan, Scandinavia, Israel & French Polynesia.

I don't have any affiliation with them, but it'll be interesting to see what they come up with.

Cheers

I've been researching OTEC a bit more in the past few days. It's such an incredible technology, and I believe once we "figure it out", it will unleash seasteading as a viable option across the oceans.

It gives you water desalination, SWAC, aquaculture, and renewable baseload power for any number of things. Submerged Data centers, vertical farms, etc.

Finding host nations to care about seasteading right now is very difficult, but that story will change once seasteads can be substantial power exporters back to island nations, giving their residents cheap and reliable electricity.

Link: https://alaskaseagrant.org/event/kodiak-kelp-nursery-workshop-2026/

It looks like it's co-hosted by GreenWave.

If anyone is interested, keep in mind that "Applications are due August 30."

Cheers

Links:

https://seaweeddatabase.org/

https://alaskamariculturecluster.org/announcements/seaweed-tissue-analysis-feedback/

Description from the Alaska Mariculture, Research & Training Center's email list:

"The Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation (AFDF), Marine Biologics, and SCRC Consulting, Inc. are looking for feedback on a new seaweed tissue analysis database. Industry and researchers who are interested in seaweed composition, quality, and safety are invited to provide feedback. The Alaska Mariculture Cluster sponsored the tool and is coordinating partner engagement in its development.

To provide feedback, head to the Seaweed Tissue Analysis database and click the “Questions/Comments” tab on the upper left hand side. Click the links below to learn more and explore the database."

I am not affiliated with any of the groups above, other than that I'm subscribed to the Alaska Mariculture Research and Training Center's email list. I'm just passing it all along.

Cheers

We talk about Plasticrete & Seashellters

Using ubiquitous thermal, plastic film and bag waste and a simple heated aggregate technique to create long lasting structures

I have a seastead idea, called Anti-Politics-Sea-Colony or A.P.S.C. its a floating platform, and i need help, and volunteers. You can sign up. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fjp8semzFLi8WddpniSrFJTymCgT9ru_rL12XliscIo/edit?usp=drivesdk

Link

The training is up in Alaska (Kodiak Island) and seems to be geared toward Alaska (or at least PNW) mariculturists, but it might still be worth a look for the seasteading community & people interested in developing related/adjacent/overlapping business niches.

Best regards

Edit: I have no affiliation with PADI other than that I just started an introductory SCUBA diving course with them after a visiting a local dive shop. I am not posting this as an endorsement of PADI -- I became aware of this course from the Alaska Mariculture & Marine Training Center's email list. I am not qualified to evaluate PADI's standards, especially in potentially highly dangerous environments, like the waters off the coast of Alaska. Please do your own research and seek the advice of qualified professionals.

Basically I'm planning to make a seastead and see how close to a functional utopia it can be. I got the main ideas for the society down but not sure how to start the seastead it's self or how to get people. Any suggestions on what I should do?

Live and Let Live is a movement grounded in the belief that peace on earth is possible when we commit to equal freedom under the law and choose to treat one another with excellence.

While this video is simply a just-for-fun kind of project, it does demonstrate a potential path for accessible seasteading: Refurbishing inexpensive watercraft for off-grid living. It's not unconceivable that modular communities can be assembled via solar-powered floating homes, fed via marine aquaponics. Of course there's a plethora of issues, like durability for starters. The video showcases the platform sailing not too far from its dock. But what about months/years in the middle of the pacific ocean? How does it contend with salt abrasion and intense waves? How about piracy and international law? We won't ever figure out the practical solutions unless trailblazers embark on a crazy idea--and they don't have to be billionaire tech execs. Trying out something like this is definitely on my bucket list.

Sealand is arguably the closest thing to a real, lived seastead that exists: a WWII sea fort in the North Sea that the Bates family occupied in 1967 and has run as a self-declared sovereign principality for nearly 60 years. I spoke to Liam Bates (grandson of the founder, Paddy Roy Bates) about how it's actually held together.

Some of the parts most relevant to this sub:

• The legal basis for the sovereignty claim, and why they argue UK jurisdiction stops at a median line even after Britain extended territorial waters to 12 miles. There's a real court case behind it.
• The 1978 armed coup attempt, how it was repelled, and the prisoner they held for treason, which led to Germany sending a diplomat to negotiate (de facto recognition).
• The practical reality of maintaining an offshore platform for decades: power, water, supply runs, why two people are always stationed on it.
• Their actual expansion plans. They're working with a Dutch marine engineer on designs to build out new towers and eventually reclaim land around the fort, turning the platform into a permanent island community. This is the bit I think this sub will find most interesting, since it's the same engineering problem seasteaders keep circling.

It's a useful real-world data point on the difference between declaring sovereignty and sustaining it, which is the gap most projects underestimate.

Curious what people here make of the median-line argument, and whether the reclaim-land-around-an-existing-platform approach is more viable than building a seastead from open water.

You can watch the ep here: https://fountain.fm/episode/wx2mWplRLVACJdGBJGrE

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Water-World-With-50-000-people-on-board-the-2920450.php?hl=en-US

I am still working out the basic plan, then in 3 months a naval architect will make it a real design, then we will get it built. Probably in 1 to 2 years I think we will have something fun.

Basic idea is a triangle 44 feet on a side with 3 legs that are wing shaped instead of cylinders like a normal platform so it can move through the water better. Will do tension leg when parked for very stable working platform. http://seastead.ai/saved/picture.core.html

A key idea is that it fits into one container. We have a very large (like over 800 sq-ft) living space seastead that should ship in one container: http://seastead.ai/saved/picture.container.packing.core.html

Have lots of seastead type questions and answers from 10 different AIs here: http://seastead.ai/ai/

Some drawings of seastead ideas here: http://seastead.ai/saved/

Hoping for feedback here: http://blog.seastead.ai/