Policy Symposium

The ANZSA Policy Symposium 2026, held in Wellington on 18th June 2026, brought together government officials, industry operators, researchers, iwi entities, and NGOs to ask one question: what is stopping seaweed moving from pilot to profit?

$70M+ has been invested in the sector since 2018. Commercial products are on shelves. Researchers have moved out of labs and into companies. These foundations demonstrate how real the opportunity is for seaweed to be a significant driver of coastal economies in Aotearoa’s near-term future.

But our regulatory system is holding us back. The RMA and Fisheries Act were designed to manage extraction not to enable restorative marine farming. International investors can get aquaculture licenses faster in Chile and Alaska than in New Zealand. NZ has lost seaweed and algae companies that were built here, but which have left for other shores where doing business is less constrained. International customers, ready to buy our products, are being left waiting as kiwi companies attempt to navigate byzantine regulatory structures. In their current state, our regulations are making us uncompetitive.

Seven priorities emerged from the day:
1.     A bespoke regulatory framework for marine cultivation
2.     Long-term policy certainty to unlock private investment
3.     Policy clarity on Undaria
4.     Continued investment in applied research to enrich our IP and capability pipelines
5.     Support with enabling exports of seaweed-based food products
6.     A coordinated, cross-government seaweed strategy, including blue carbon considerations
7. FAO/WHO is right now writing the world’s first dedicated seaweed food standard. Countries that engage now shape the rules others must follow. New Zealand needs to be at that table.

The public and private sectors are clearly aligned on the vision of a nature-positive, high-value seaweed industry in Aotearoa. The question is whether policy and regulation can be shifted to enable, and not entangle?  Thanks to our gracious hosts, Bank of New Zealand for hosting us at their beautiful Partners Centre in Wellington, and Ceres Organics for the lovely seaweed sprinkles that we greatly enjoyed with lunch.