MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • December 4, 2022
Seaweed Commons, a collective of 29 seaweed farmers, scientists and environmental activists from around the world, fears that major seaweed aquaculture corporations, lured by the promise of big profits in the years to come, will swoop in to commandeer large swaths of Maine’s coastline. The group put forth a position paper “collectively issuing a warning call and demand for regulatory updates to mitigate risks to coastal ecosystems, the commons of the sea, the biodiversity of kelp forests, and the well-being of our human communities.” Bigelow Laboratories is studying how much atmospheric carbon the sea plants can effectively sequester, and the feasibility of using seaweed in livestock feed to reduce methane output from cows, which contributes to climate change.