Kelp Farming: Promises, Pitfalls, and What We Still Don’t Know

Can kelp farming make the world a better place? Around the globe, seaweed aquaculture is booming, with everyone from government officials to Jeff Bezos jumping on board. The industry is taking off on the west coast of North America, where plans for new kelp farms are popping up everywhere. Advocates tout seaweed farming as a solution to hunger, poverty, greenhouse gas emissions, and the degradation of ocean ecosystems. But so far, evidence is thin. Many questions remain.

Join Rebecca Martone, marine ecologist and executive director of the Ocean Decade Collaborative Center for the Northeast Pacific, and expert panelists for an engaging discussion on kelp farming, its promises and pitfalls. They’ll cover what we know about the potential environmental and social impacts of seaweed aquaculture—including creating fish habitat, combating climate change, and generating revenue for coastal communities—as well as what’s still unknown.

If you’ve heard the buzz about kelp farming but aren’t clear on the details, this event is for you. To learn more about the state of seaweed aquaculture before the event, read Nicola Jones’s recent story in Hakai Magazine, “Banking on the Seaweed Rush.”

At 12:30 pm PT, after the conclusion of the panel, we invite Early Career Ocean Professionals (ECOPs) to stay online to discuss, debrief, and exchange ideas in a focused session with the speakers. An Early Career Ocean Professional self-identifies as being early in their career in any field related to the ocean, including undergraduate or graduate education or in the workforce. This portion of the event will be held on a separate zoom co-hosted by ECOP Canada.

After you RSVP, log into your account on Eventbrite and visit the online event page to access both Zoom links.

Event Speakers

We are thrilled to welcome the following speakers to our expert panel:

Dr. Jennifer Clark is a phycologist and the chief science officer at Cascadia Seaweed, the largest kelp cultivator in Canada. There, she oversees research and development as well as the production of kelp in seven ocean farms.

Dune Lankard is an Eyak Athabaskan fisher, activist, and founding president of Native Conservancy, a nonprofit organization that empowers Alaska Native peoples to preserve endangered habitats on their ancestral homelands through initiatives such as kelp farming.

Dr. Nichole Price is a marine ecologist at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in Maine, where she studies the eco-physiology of seaweeds, how they cycle carbon and nutrients in the ocean, and their potential role in mitigating coastal acidification and climate change.

Participants will have the opportunity to share their perspectives and ask the panelists questions.

Hosts

Hakai Magazine is the only journalism outlet to focus entirely on the science and societies of the world’s oceans and coastlines. Founded in 2015 in Victoria, British Columbia, the magazine has more than 300,000 monthly readers from across the globe. Our mandate is to foster a global conversation about coasts—the places where most people live—and we publish all of our stories exclusively online, without paywalls or ads. The magazine is part of the Tula Foundation, an independent charitable foundation based in Canada.

The Tula Foundation’s Ocean Decade Collaborative Center for the Northeast Pacific convenes conversations among knowledge holders, scientists, practitioners, and community members in the Northeast Pacific region. We highlight timely topics and advances in ocean science through the lens of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, grounded in the interests and priorities of coastal communities.

From the coast to the deep water and across boundaries and borders, we acknowledge the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of all the Indigenous peoples that have called the Northeast Pacific region home since time immemorial.

Accessibility

The Ocean Decade Collaborative Center for the Northeast Pacific is committed to meeting accessibility needs where possible. Please contact kathryn.sheps@tula.org to discuss how we can help make this event more accessible for you.

Code of Conduct

This is an inclusive event. By submitting your registration, you are agreeing to engage with organizers and other guests at the event in a respectful manner. Offensive or discriminatory behaviour and/or language toward event organizers or other guests will not be tolerated. Such behaviour may result in the removal or banning of the individual(s) from future events.

Image credit: Mercedes Minck