Bountiful kelp harvest gives UNE students a taste of the blue economy

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 10, 2026

The sun broke through the clouds on Thursday as a small crew of students from the University of New England hauled up about a thousand pounds of brown kelp. Over the next week, they will turn that bounty into about 5,000 salty-sweet nutrition bars. “This is what I came here to do,” said Julianne Manlove, a 19-year-old freshman marine science and biochemistry major from Rhode Island. “Learning about sea farming is one thing. Learning to do it, that’s just so much better. This was easily the highlight of my year.” The first kelp harvest of the season proved so bountiful that it was almost unmanageable.