Opening North Sea Seaweed 2024, Scheveningen, 3 October 2024

Thank you Eef Brouwers for your kind introduction,

Good morning everyone,

I am delighted to welcome you here on Scheveningen’s iconic Pier. And what better place to do that today than next to the restaurant with the fitting name of ‘Zilt’ (which means Salty in English). Because the sea is the future and – as a coastal city – The Hague can play an important part in that.

Made famous by herring fishing, Scheveningen has since become a centre of research and sustainable offshore development. Our offshore wind farms are supported and supplied from our harbour. Those wind farms provide green energy but there is far more happening here than just that. Between the turbines there is room for floating solar panels and saline crops, such as seaweed. The NSF 1 project, a seaweedfarm in the windparc Dutch Coast South, shows it’s possible. It’s been opened only last week. The first seaweed harvest will take place next spring.

Closer to the coast of Scheveningen there is the offshore test site. With six square kilometers it’s Europe’s biggest offshore test site. Experiments in seaweed cultivation and other sustainable use of space between windturbines has been going on there for several years. With the first operational Dutch seaweedfarm and new experiments on the testsite, we are ready to find markets and new applications for seaweed products. The large number and wide variety of companies and organisations attending these two days shows that seaweed has potential.

In Asia it is as commonplace to eat seaweed as it is for us to eat potatoes. Here we often still have to discover the many ways that seaweed can be used in the kitchen. Personally, I find that it has a strong, savoury flavour. Umami, I am told. A pleasant surprise for a meat-lover like me but, of course, this is about more than just adding it to our menu.

Seaweed supports food security and in that respect can still grow tremendously. It is also a sustainable crop that takes up little space in areas where space is at a premium. Something which immediately sounds attractive for a city like The Hague.

Seaweed is food but it can also be used as a raw material for sustainable products. Seaweed socks appeal to the imagination but seaweed can also be used to create sustainable building materials and substitutes for plastics. There are plenty of opportunities for an innovative sector, as well as for Scheveningen and The Hague region.

I wish you every success in forging cooperative partnerships and alliances, and in developing fruitful sales markets. Should you have a need for one, I would be happy to be your seaweed ambassador.