The Maine marine economy has been almost entirely dependent on the nearshore landings of the American lobster. As the effects of the climate crisis become evident, Maine’s coastal waters have experienced as dramatic a shift as anywhere in the world. Small boat, community scale, coastal commercial fishing communities have persisted in the area, often locked into a single species permitting approach.
Alas, that hopeful forecast was not to be, and even the northern lobster fisheries of Maine are facing long-term, climate-driven vulnerability.Seaweed farming is a huge global business valued at $6 billion, yet in the US it is still getting its sea legs . Kelp, a New England native seaweed, can serve as a viable second crop for lobster fishers and shellfish farmers whose catch has been affected by warming waters.
Around New England there are perhaps 40 – 50 farmers of all sizes and experience levels working small ocean plots of a native kelp species, Saccharina latissima, right now, with Maine at the forefront of regional production. From 2015 to 2020, the harvest of farmed sugar kelp in Maine increased more than 3,000% from 6.6 mt wet weight. In Massachusetts, there are a handful of farmers, primarily around the Cape and Martha’s Vineyard.
To grow kelp, the fishers suspend 1,000-foot-long ropes covered with tiny kelp seeds in late fall. Over the winter, the kelp grows vertically in the water column to lengths of 6 to 10 feet. Harvested in the spring, each rope has close to 6,000 pounds of fresh sugar kelp attached to it. The kelp is sold freshly chopped, dried, or flash frozen. It can be a cube in smoothies, served in long noodle form for slaws or wraps, added as an ingredient in slaw or kraut, used as a garnish on entrees, or substituted for pasta — and