Help from kelp
Scientists in Washington are trying to determine if farming seaweeds such as as kelp will help reduce the effects of ocean acidification.
Funded by the Paul G Allen Family Foundation, the 5-year, $1.5 million project is testing the hypothesis that growing kelps could offer a strategy to reduce the effects of ocean acidification.
Led by Dr Jonathon Davis, senior scientist, and Betsy Peabody, executive director, at the Puget Sound Restoration Fund, the project involves culturing kelp sporophytes (seedlings) and seeding them onto twine for deployment and growth at an existing aquaculture facility in north Hood Canal.
Scientists from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and University of Washington will monitor seawater chemistry in and around those farms and measure how much CO2 the marine macro algae take up.
“We know the reactions. But we don’t know if they scale to be significant in nature,” said Jan Newton, a UW oceanographer who codirects the Washington Ocean Acidification Center and is on the team assessing the project.
Shellfish benefits
Scientists conducting a similar project in Maine report promising results during the first year of measuring the carbon uptake at a commercial kelp farm in Casco Bay.
Using sensors inside and outside the kelp lines, scientists measured the pH of surrounding water and determined that the kelp was actually reducing CO2 saturation of the ocean, which would drastically improve growth rates of juvenile shellfish - something of great value to the local $184 million shellfish industry.
Growing kelp may provide more than just a way to reduce CO2 - researchers in Canada have been testing the abilities of kelp to reduce the impacts of salmon aquaculture.
On Vancouver Island, pilot projects to develop co-culture of kelp with salmon farms to help reduce dissolved nitrogen have met with much success.
