Time flies – and before we know it, the trainees that were visiting us at TANGO during the fall, are on their way again. Fanny, Mats and Felix came from a range of backgrounds, stage of their careers and countries, but share their interest and enthusiasm for seaweed and the emerging seaweed cultivation sector.

We were lucky to have them and experience mutual inspiration.

Full trainee action in preparation of the seeding: Felix, Mats and Fanny (© TANGO Seaweed)

Here is how they describe their time at TANGO.

Hei!

My name is Mats Heitzmann, I am 26, and I am an intern at Tango Seaweed in the fall of 2022.

I just finished my Master’s degree (M. Ed.) with a major in biology and ocean education at the Europa-Universität Flensburg in Germany.

After reading the book “Eat like a fish” by Bren Smith, I started to research seaweed aquaculture and it blew my mind how big the scope of application for seaweed is. Additionally to this, seaweed farms can combat climate change, restore biodiversity and produce zero-input crops. Could any topic be more interesting than that?

I stumbled across Tango Seaweed on Instagram and on their Website I’ve seen the blog posts of the past interns. The vibe directly resonated with me and I wrote my application on the same day.

Now I am writing the blog post and maybe it's your turn next? I’m extremely happy that I got the opportunity to do the internship here at Tango in Norway so that I could learn everything hands-on.

Tango experiments with completely new techniques that can make the whole seeding/harvesting process greener and more sustainable every day. The working atmosphere is great and I can highly recommend it to everybody who wants to learn more about seaweed aquaculture.

The most impressive experience for me was definitely the seeding week. The weeks before we prepared everything for this event and due to that we were all very excited as the day came closer. During the seeding, I learned many new things about the seaweed industry, the life cycle, and farm design.

From what I’ve experienced so far, I think that seaweed has enormous potential to become the next big industry. With its highly scientific approach, Tango Seaweed is in terms of sustainability a forerunner of this emerging and exciting industry, and I can highly recommend applying at Tango if you are keen to learn more about that.

Life in Norway. Life in our little cabin in Haugsbygda is as cozy as you can imagine a little house in a fjord with direct access to the water. The office is just 5 walking minutes away and on free days, we do a lot of trips with our small red rental car.

So far, we already went surfing in Hoddevika which is a remote little beach 2 hours south of Hausbygda. The waves were great and the scenery was breathtaking.

Njord Freediver, which is a freediving club in Heroy gave us an introduction to freediving so we were able to experience the underwater world of Norway's pristine fjord landscape which is absolutely unique.

Some days ago we took the freediving suits and drove up the mountains to Lygnstoylvatnet which is a freshwater lake that was created by an avalanche 100 years ago. Underwater, you can still see walls and old buildings and the water quality is insane.

So far we just met friendly people and the weather changes a lot but is definitely better than I expected. Sounds like a paradise? It is!

Hei alle sammen!

My name is Fanny and I was with Tango from mid-September to the end of November. I'm studying Coastal and Marine Management in the Netherlands and the internship is part of my studies. The aim of the internship was to gain insight into a professional field of interest. During my studies I learn, among other things, about the various activities that take place in the sea and in the coastal areas; what the interests are of those involved and how they can be reconciled.

Seaweed cultivation will presumably play an increasingly important role in this area in the future, so it is very exciting for me to get an insight into the development of a new industry, to see the stage it is in at the moment and what the obstacles are that need to be overcome.

At Tango, special attention is paid to sustainable development, which was very important to me when choosing the internship. During the internship, the seeding was particularly interesting. We worked towards it for a few weeks, and it was exciting to finally see and implement what was previously discussed in theory. The whole team worked together, and I got to know other people within the industry, which was really nice and inspiring!

I’m Felix, and I come from the UK. I studied Mechanical Engineering, and after finding an interest in seaweed during my time at university, went out to learn about it first-hand when I graduated.

I was attracted to TANGO by its organic approach to farming – working with the ocean, not against it – and its regenerative ocean principles; Lise approaches ocean farming by establishing a connection with the environment, demonstrated, for example, by only cultivating locally sourced winged and sugar kelp. TANGO leads by example, and encourages other farmers to venture sustainably. I was also curious to see Norway, having heard it was both beautiful and contained the most seaweed farms in Northern Europe, and I thought the smaller size of the company would allow for exposure into many aspects of the business.

As well as learning a lot about specific farm processes, such as seeding, harvest, and processing of seaweeds, I also had the chance to have conversations about the emerging seaweed industry, and learn about the challenges faced; there is huge potential for integrating technology and resource-sharing, and there is still need to increase education and demand. Coming from an engineering degree, it was refreshing to dip my toes into something completely different: the world of marine biology. It has inspired an interest and stimulated my brain into thinking how these two worlds might meet. It also meant learning a lot of Latin words.

Some of my most memorable experiences took place on the boat: from cleaning the farm frame to documenting local species, which saw us freediving around the farm with a GoPro. There is something very simple and instinctive about fresh air and salt on your face, and the cold fingers just take a bit of getting used to. We also had plenty of opportunity to explore on the weekends, and we went surfing, hiking, swimming, freediving, and even ended up helping someone untangle lobster nets, for which we were rewarded with lobster.

I know I want to play a part in the seaweed industry in the future, and I feel that as I develop my skills more, I will find a valuable application for them in this young and exciting industry.

Greetings from yet another trainee dream-team: Felix, Mats and Fanny

We were lucky to have them and experience mutual inspiration.

Here is how they describe their time at TANGO.