HUMBLE seaweed, long a sustainable income source for many South-East Asian subsistence farmers, is on track to becoming the latest high-value aquaculture product in Australia thanks to research being conducted by a University of the Sunshine Coast scientist.

Associate Professor Nicholas Paul says while Australian seaweed production could never compete with South-East Asia in terms of scale or simplicity, there were enormous opportunities through a focus on high-value, clean, green local products.

Dr Paul's research is identifying indigenous species with the right bio-active compounds to supply the health, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries.

Seaweeds, which he describes as the unsung heroes of the sea, are high in dietary fibre, Omega 3 fatty acids and is also a genuine whole food source.

"Seaweed is the largest aquaculture crop in the world but none is grown commercially in Australian waters,” Dr Paul said.

Working out of the Bribie Island Research Centre at Woorim, Dr Paul is developing pure strains in open-air tanks understanding how to control reproduction and to determine what was the right material to grow it on.

The goal was also to work with industry partners to identify areas of Moreton Bay suitable for commercial growing.

Ironically the urban and agricultural run-off into the Bay would provide nutrients to feed the seaweed at commercial scale, which would otherwise become a food source for unwanted algal blooms.

Dr Paul said the ocean had to be an ongoing part of ensuring global food security.

Seaweed has potential as a component of high-value, niche products, as a fertiliser to return minerals to the soil and as in animal feed.

"There's a lot of things on the table,” he said. "Not all will succeed.

"Seaweed production has to be profitable to be sustainable.”

Dr Paul, who transferred from James Cook University in Townsville to USC earlier this year, has spent five years working on seaweed culture in the Pacific Islands and South-East Asia, funded through the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research.

"I've been inspired by what I've seen overseas, where seaweed is farmed as a traditional food and as a global commodity that is worth billions of dollars annually,” he said.