![Farming Kelp in Maine Waters: A Promising Step Towards Environmental Sustainability Farming Kelp in Maine Waters: A Promising Step Towards Environmental Sustainability](https://i0.wp.com/local.keynoteusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/KELPfarmingmaine52824-300.jpg?resize=810%2C456&ssl=1)
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SAINT GEORGE, Maine (WMTW) – Maine leads the country in seaweed farming.
Seaweed farms are located in several areas off the coast of Maine, including Casco Bay and Midcoast.
Keith Miller of South Thomaston is a pioneer in seaweed farming. He has been fishing for decades and operates several seaweed farms. He grows, harvests and then sells the seaweed from it to seaweed farming company Atlantic Sea Farms, based in Biddeford.
Kelp is a winter crop, meaning it grows best between November and April. Miller and his team have about one more week to harvest the crop before it’s time to prepare for lobster season.
Kelp gives anglers the opportunity to stay on the water year-round when they otherwise would not have been able to do so. As an added bonus, many fishermen already have the equipment necessary to grow and harvest seaweed.
“With respect to what you fish, diversity is definitely a path to sustainability because it gives you the ability to stay on the water and do what you love and also make it economically viable in different seasons,” Maya Pelletier of Maine. Aquaculture Innovation Center said.
Miller says on a recent trip he harvested about 5,000 pounds of seaweed and sold it for 70 cents a pound. He says seaweed farming is a more sustainable industry than something like lobster fishing, where market prices fluctuate.
“Aquaculture is taking the place of old fisheries in that network of diversification and security to have an alternative mode of income,” said Olivia Richards, community development officer at the Island Institute.
Studies have shown that the Gulf of Maine is warming faster than almost any other ocean surface on the planet, but fishermen say the ocean has been colder this year than in previous years, which in turn has helped the This year’s seaweed harvest.
“Right around where seaweed grows, ocean acidification levels are less acidic, and acidic ocean waters are detrimental to the growth and stability of shellfish shells,” Richards said. “So by growing seaweed alongside mussels, they’ve actually seen stronger shells and the ability of mussels to grow their shells more quickly.”
“We don’t need to feed it,” Pelletier said. “He is able to help regulate some of the natural systems, such as the amount of nitrogen and carbon dioxide in the water. “Then, in the end, it produces these magnificent plant-like organisms.”
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