Margie Rule

Margie Rule

Cultivation / Research

Dr. Margie Rule is a marine phycologist and aquaculturist, with specialist capabilities in the fields of seaweed biology, ecology and cultivation, and is one of the leading seaweed researchers in Australia. Margie has been instrumental in the establishment of commercial marine and land-based seaweed farming of many of the major growers in Australia, and has worked previously with local seaweed farming communities in Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines. Margie specializes in advising and supporting growers who are launching farms, or need to optimize growing techniques. She has worked on a range of species including Undaria, Macrocystis and Ecklonia, Euchuema and Kappaphycus, Caulerpa, Ulva and Sargassum; and is one of the world leaders in Asparagopsis cultivation R&D. 

Through her company, Drift Consulting, Margie offers growers support and advice, with services and expertise including:

  • Establishing laboratory facilities and developing local hatcheries for any species of interest
  • Surveying local algal communities and identifying the most suitable and valuable species for commercial farming
  • Collecting, maintaining and growing-out clean broodstock for any species of commercial interest, and developing novel techniques for cultivation 
  • Mapping patterns of seasonality of seaweed communities to determine most suitable parameters for growth
  • Testing lease sites for suitability by transplanting juveniles of species of interest and beginning to optimise current methods for commercial farming
  • Assisting in developing business and economic plans, and science strategies
  • Conducting the biological and ecological R&D required to develop commercial scale farming of any species selected 
  • Training in, or developing novel practices for, the identification of reproductive material, release and collection of spores, broodstock establishment, seedling production and ocean farming
  • Optimising current farming practices from adjustment of techniques to boost productivity to the development of innovative techniques and technologies

Drift is co-founded with Dr. Michael Rule who is a marine ecologist specialising in ecological field research and farm monitoring and has developed several innovative farming technologies used by farmers in Australia.  

Contact