As the global human population continues to grow, the demand for sustainable food sources is becoming increasingly urgent. Seaweed cultivation offers a highly sustainable solution, requiring no fertile land, freshwater or additional feed or fertilizers. Beyond its nutritional value, seaweeds represent a valuable bioresource for numerous industrial applications (e.g., pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, textiles, biostimulants, nutraceuticals, animal feed and biofuel production). With the growing market interest in seaweed-derived products, global seaweed farming is anticipated to increase substantially in the coming years. 
However, main species of interest cannot be successfully farmed in southern Europe and climate change is already posing major challenges to seaweed production in the world and this will continue as more frequent and extreme weather events are expected in the future. Thus, the emerging seaweed aquaculture sector in Europe will face an enormous challenge to meet the rising demand for biomass in the midst of climate change. This sector needs to urgently innovate, diversify and adapt to changing environmental conditions to ensure increased productivity and to make it a successful and competitive industry.
Locally adapted species and Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) systems can promote the creation of more sustainable production methods in the warm nutrient deprived waters of southern Europe, potentially increasing kelp biomass production while reducing the environment impacts of fish farming through nutrient bioremediation. While, Asian countries have begun developing environmentally tolerant cultivars of Saccharina spp., similar efforts remain scarce for species with economic interest in Europe, particularly in southern Europe. This project aims to address this critical gap by enhancing the environmental adaptability of the most promising kelp in southern Europe for aquaculture, native Laminaria ochroleuca ("Golden kelp”), promoting therefore the development of a sustainable and climate-resilient seaweed aquaculture industry that supports both environmental and socioeconomic sustainability in the region.