The sea has a wide range of resources to offer. Of course there is fisheries. But also saline agriculture, food produced with salt water is, may have great potential. Conventional agriculture requires much water. Texel is surrounded by salt water and the island itself salinates rapidly. There are already initiatives to use salt water to grow crops. An example of a crop that can be produced in salt water is algae. Algaes can be used for biofuel, and they contain a lot of vitamins, minerals, omega 3 and proteins that can be used for pharmaceutical and food products. Can this potential of saline agriculture be used in Texel?
Current initiatives
- Seaweed centre NIOZ: http://www.nioz.nl/seaweedcentre
- Sustainable fisheries using less fuel, causing less ecological damage