Marketable kelp a byproduct of ocean acidification research

Slow to find a commercial foothold on the west coast, commercial kelp production is growing rapidly on the Atlantic seaboard where growers in Maine have been cultivating it successfully for several years.

The Hood Canal project funded by a Paul Allen Grant is the first of its kind on the West Coast to investigate the potential of kelp to combat ocean acidification.  The first kelp seedlings of a five-year project were unfurled into Puget Sound’s Hood Canal in Washington this spring. The spores, or sori, are raised in tanks at NOAA’s Manchester Research Facility. Scientists from NOAA and the Puget Sound Restoration Fund will monitor the kelp and surrounding waters over time to gauge it’s efficacy at taking up carbon dioxide from the water column.