Seaweed aquaculture is an emerging industry in the United States. Several states are actively cultivating seaweed at commercial or research/investigative scale. Potential benefits of this new industry include job creation, increased revenue, diversification of products, and less reliance on imports. Despite three decades of research into developing the framework for domestic seaweed aquaculture, there are challenges preventing the industry’s expansion. This presentation will provide a brief overview on how seaweed (specifically sugar kelp) is cultivated, current challenges affecting the industry’s expansion, current efforts to address these challenges and current and investigative uses for seaweed.
Sponsored by the US Aquaculture Society, the National Aquaculture Association and The Alabama Cooperative Extension System.
