Karelia Plans Support Measures for Seaweed Harvesting and Processing as Exploitation of White Sea's 2.05 Million Tonne Brown Algae Resource Stays Below 1%

On 9 November 2026, a meeting of the Republic of Karelia's Marine Council was held, chaired by the head of the republic, Artur Parfenchikov, to discuss fisheries and aquaculture as well as research results. According to the republican government's press service, which informed Fishnews, the meeting determined that support measures for White Sea seaweed harvesters and processors would be examined, and that research into the potential of marine plant resources would continue.

Karelia's Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Olga Palkina, reported at the meeting that from January to September 2026 the republic's total fish catch was 84,400 tonnes, 144% of the same period in 2025; of this, oceanic fishing accounted for 81,700 tonnes, 147% of the same period in 2025. The republic currently has 80 aquaculture enterprises, with output of 33,200 tonnes, 120% of the same period in 2025, including 21,800 tonnes of market fish, 127.6% of the same period in 2025. Production of processed fish and canned fish rose to 1.6 times, reaching 75,600 tonnes.

Regarding White Sea research, Olga Bakhmet, acting general director of the Karelian Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences, explained that scientists treat the White Sea and its catchment area as a single object, studying geology, climate, water chemistry and ecotoxicology, and are carrying out work to restore wild salmon populations. The centre is advancing a project for a coastal bio-ecological settlement together with the Kurchatov Institute, with the research coordinated by the Karelian Research Centre and Petrozavodsk State University.

Natalia Sidorova, associate professor in the Department of Zoology and Ecology at Petrozavodsk State University, presented the development of deep processing of brown algae. The commercial reserve in the Karelian part of the White Sea is 205,000 tonnes, of which less than 1% is currently exploited. Owing to environmental stress factors, White Sea raw material is unique in composition — with higher content of fucoidan, phlorotannins, mannitol and iodine. A hybrid zero-waste process has been developed that can obtain up to five in-demand products from the same batch of raw material, ranging from aquaculture feed additives to alginates and functional foods. The related work is being carried out at the base of the small innovative enterprise "Microbiome" under Petrozavodsk State University, in cooperation with the trading company "Nadvoitsky Plant".

Parfenchikov said: "Most importantly, we have obtained scientific justification: White Sea seaweed, because it grows under extreme conditions, has higher biological value."

Following the meeting, the head of the republic issued a series of instructions. Karelia's Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, together with business, needs to examine state support measures for seaweed harvesting and processing, with compensation of equipment costs and the possibility of tax incentives under consideration. There are plans to study the potential of White Sea seaweed resources in cooperation with the Kurchatov Institute.

Parfenchikov also proposed developing a health-resort direction — thalassotherapy, therapeutic muds, seaweed wraps and dietary supplements combined with shale. He said: "All of this could become a health resort capable of competing with the Black Sea. The potential here is very large; what matters is to confirm, together with doctors and universities, the beneficial health effects of White Sea resources."