Seaweed aquaculture: bioextraction of nutrients to reduce eutrophication

Like many other estuaries and coastal regions, Long Island Sound suffers from anthropogenic eutrophication. This phenomenon, the addition of nutrients to the system as a result of human activities, is a consequence of the human alteration of the nitrogen cycle on a global scale. In coastal waters and estuaries primary production by phytoplankton, seaweeds, and seagrasses is generally limited by the availability of dissolved inorganic nitrogen, present as nitrate, nitrite, and ammonium. The sources of the inorganic nitrogen added into coastal waters and estuaries are several: fertilizer run-off from residences, agriculture, septic seep into groundwater, fossil fuel combustion, and wastewater treatment plant discharges.