The structures are traditionally made from repurposed railway tracks. © Seaducer
Since its foundation, Seaducer has focused on designing tools that make farming oysters more efficient, less physically taxing and more environmentally responsive. Their team’s flagship innovation, the Roll’Oyster, was already turning heads two years ago when The Fish Site last caught up with them. But don’t be fooled – Seaducer has much wider plans than simply improving a single product.
From prototype to platform
As covered in our last article, Seaducer launched the Roll’Oyster commercially in 2021, after several years of R&D. What followed was a rapid iteration cycle: feedback from early adopters, technical tweaks and durability upgrades.
“We optimised several components, based on the first users’ feedback – performance, durability and energy efficiency all improved,” shares Charbonneau. “We also worked on developing add-on systems, such as the Airlift and paddle wheel modules, to reinforce energy efficient water circulation and thus oyster growth.”
It put them on the map of French – and soon international – aquaculture innovation. True to their origins from the world-famous Marennes-Oléron claires d’affinage area, Seaducer’s team has always highly valued salt marshes as an extremely productive oyster farming environment. Making the best of them while compensating for the lack of tides and time spent out of the water to reinforce shells and adductor muscles, was the core idea behind the Roll’Oyster.
But the Roll’Oyster was just the beginning. Building on their acquired experience, they began to work on adapting the model to Thau Lagoon’s Mediterranean specificities, which resulted in the SeaLadder.
Thau oyster farmers traditionally use high tables from which ropes hang, with oysters cemented in place. Here too, they benefit from excellent growing conditions, achieving commercial size twice as fast as their Atlantic counterparts. However, Thau oysters have long been plagued with weaker shells, leading to challenges down the distribution chain. The cement used to glue the oysters to the ropes complicates cleaning and sorting operations. And sea bream have also become a widespread nuisance, preying on young oysters[rf1] , forcing farmers to install protective nets that slow down their work.
“The SeaLadder comes as an integrated solution to all of those challenges,” Charbonneau says. “Just like the Roll’Oyster, it greatly reduces the arduousness of farming and actively helps to grow higher quality oysters. Adding up all of the extra labour and material costs, it’s a roughly similar investment for farmers – who just get better results for a fraction of the work.”
An adaptation of the Roll'Oyster for lagoon environments © Seaducer
Roll’Oyster and SeaLadder adoption has been steady on both French coastlines among producers committed to growing high-end oysters.
Still, persuading producers to make a relatively large initial investment has always been one of the core challenges for Seaducer’s development in France. Traditional oyster growing methods still hold sway in many production areas and change tends to happen one farming generation at a time.
“To lower the adoption barrier, we are now addressing the market also with less automated processes like offering farmers the option to only use our patented baskets,” smiles Charbonneau. “Australian baskets have been around for the last 10 years and are now commonly accepted as offering great results, when used properly. Our baskets don’t require to buy entirely new tables [trestles], a simple and quick adaptation allows to switch to this new way of working. This makes it much easier for farmers to adopt them. We weren’t sure how it would be received when we first launched this offer, but we got an enthusiastic welcome from many farmers. We see this as a great opportunity to support a shift in practices – towards reducing labour intensity and taking a first step before possibly adopting fully-automated systems down the line.”
Seaducer is also developing digital tools combining sensor data (such as water temperature and oxygen levels), weather feeds (wind especially) and remote monitoring.
“For now, we are adding features to the Seaducer app that allow farmers to monitor their systems and collect local environmental data. We’re not yet offering predictive models, but we are improving access to existing data to support decision-making and farm management. It’s a little bit like the Windguru of oyster farming,” shares Charbonneau.
© Tristan Macquet
Going global
Charbonneau’s travels have taken him from Portugal and Italy to Japan, where Seaducer is now installing systems and building out its network of international partners.
The response abroad has, in some ways, been more enthusiastic than in France. Part of that, Charbonneau believes, comes from the Japanese having a greater cultural openness to experimentation and part from their shorter farming cycles.
“They are observing the results earlier, and that motivates them to go further in this direction, at a faster pace,” Charbonneau confides.
Seaducer recently signed a prescriber contract with Suzuki Farm in Hiroshima, Japan. After testing a first system, the farm quickly invested to add several more units.
© Seaducer
Beyond the operational advantages already mentioned, Suzuki Farm observed a significant drop in mortality, especially when spat are moved to open water for the on-growing phase.
“This is not something we yet have sufficient evidence to claim as a 100 percent Roll’Oyster benefit,” Charbonneau notes cautiously. “But we have indeed observed that many farmers get good results when giving their spat a stronger start by being worked a lot. It’s what we call mémoire de forme [shape memory] and it seems to decrease mortality encountered at later stages.”
From Japan, Seaducer has also been engaging in discussions with interested parties in North and Southeast Asia. And, closer to home, is receiving more and more enquiries from Italy, Portugal and even the Black Sea – where Romanian partners are interested in further developing local oyster production.
Seaducer’s strategy is clear: work with local prescribers, not just clients.
“I’m convinced this is a model that works – especially in distant markets, or in countries with specific cultural or business environments, or both. We’re very open to that kind of partnership. For these markets, we’ll definitely rely on local support – whether it’s to overcome language barriers, cultural differences or even technical practices. These partnerships are key, and we plan to pursue and expand them wherever opportunities arise,” Charbonneau explains.
© Seaducer
The future of the industry
Looking ahead from their now globalised perspective, Charbonneau sees a fork in the road. Some oyster producers are still betting on volume, despite razor-thin margins and unstable markets. Others, especially newer entrants, are turning towards quality – and seeing better outcomes.
The sector also faces deep structural challenges: labour shortages, disease pressure, undervalued products and an aging workforce. For Seaducer, part of the solution to this complex puzzle lies in tools that de-risk operations and reduce physical demands.
“We see a growing need for integrated systems. And looking a little bit further down the line, we are starting to imagine ways to shelter shellfish from recurring phenomena and environmental risks such as viruses, biotoxins and acidification,” Charbonneau points out. “It’s still too early for us to share details, but just as we work to support farmers now, we also want to start planning for what they may face in 10, 20, or 30 years.”
When asked where new companies could step in to support oyster farmers and regenerative aquaculture, Charbonneau doesn’t hesitate. While Seaducer is committed to gear and system innovation, he believes there’s a growing need for complementary services – especially as the industry begins intersecting with other sectors like energy and infrastructure.
“On some of our products like the SeaLadder, there’s real potential for synergy with floating solar farm projects,” he notes.
While Seaducer does have basic photovoltaic expertise, Charbonneau sees this as a ripe area for specialised companies to step in and take further.
Similarly, Charbonneau suggests that offshore wind infrastructure – which is expanding rapidly in Europe – could provide physical platforms or shared logistics for new kinds of aquaculture, especially in areas where marine space is contested or expensive. Startups that can bridge the operational and ecological demands of such hybrid setups may find eager partners in both the aquaculture and energy sectors.
For Charbonneau, the path is clear: support the shift to smarter, more sustainable systems, and help farmers focus on what they do best – growing.
