Prof. Charles Yarish1,2,5, Mr. Scott Lindell2, Dr. Michael Stekoll3, Dr. Yaoguang Li1, Dr. Schery Umanzor3, Mr. Dave Bailey2, Dr. Jean-Luc Jannink4, Dr. Mao Huang4, Mr. Michael Marty-RIvera1, Ms. Margaret Aydlett2, Ms. Kendall Barbery5, Mr. Bren Smith5, Dr. Loretta Roberson6, Mr. Dominic Manganelli7, Dr. Clifford Goudey7, Dr. Julie Decker8, Mr. Alf Pryor9, Mr. Nicholas Mangini10, Dr. Tobey Dewhurst11, Dr. Hauke Kite-Powell2, Mr. Beau Perry12, Dr. Jang Kim1,13
1University of Connecticut, Stamford, United States, 2Applied Ocean Physics & Engineering Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, United States, 3University of Alaska Fairbanks, Juneau, United States, 4Section of Plant Breeding and Genetics, School of Integrative Plant Sciences, Cornell University and United States Department of Agriculture—Agriculture Research Service, Ithaca, United States, 5GreenWave Organization, New Haven, United States, 6The Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, United States, 7C.A. Goudey & Associates, Newburyport, United States, 8Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation, Wrangell , United States, 9Kodiak Kelp Company, Kodiak, United States, 10Kodiak Island Sustainable Seaweed, Kodiak, United States, 11Kelson Marine, Portland, United States, 12Marine Policy Center, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, United States, 13Blue Evolution, San Francisco, United States, 14Department of Marine Science and Research Institute of Basic Sciences, Incheon National University, Incheon 22012, South Korea
After more than three and a half decades of effort by scientists, industry, state and federal agencies, seaweed aquaculture offers new opportunities for expansion in US coastal waters. With the nursery technologies developed at the University of Connecticut, the cold-water brown seaweeds, Saccharina latissima and S. angustissima have been successfully cultivated in open water farms in the Northeast. Our selectively bred kelp grew as much as 7.0 m in length and yielded up to 28 kg FW per meter after 6 months with a density of >400 plants per meter. Typical commercial yields are 4 to 8 kg FW per meter. Seaweed aquaculture provides ecosystem services by removing excess nutrients (carbon and nitrogen) from ecosystems and thereby improves water quality, potentially reducing ocean acidification and creating opportunities for carbon sequestration. Kelp aquaculture in Northeast America can remove up to 180 kg N and 1800 kg C per hectare per year, depending on the spacing of the longlines and cultivation arrays. After more than $60 million invested by the ARPA-E (US DOE) MARINER Program, seaweed aquaculture is developing new business opportunities in the US. With improvements in productivity, kelp and other farmed seaweeds continue to build significant value as foods for human consumption and could potentially be viable feedstocks for animal feeds, phycocolloids and biofuels. There are unique opportunities for phycologists to work with ocean engineers, plant breeders and others to develop and apply advanced breeding technologies that will increase growth and production for open water farm systems in the US.