Hi everyone! I'm Loretta Roberson, a researcher at the Marine Biological Lab in Woods Hole, MA who loves seaweed.
-
I work with a fabulous team to develop seaweed farming and tools in tropical waters funded by the US Dept. of Energy MARINER program. Currently we are focused on Puerto Rico, Florida, and Belize. I am also fortunate to work with the wonderful MARINER teams developing sugar kelp farming practices in New England and Alaska. Looking forward to connecting with folks and sharing experiences! Fantastic job GreenWave! The Hub looks amazing!
@loretta_roberson -WELCOME!
@loretta_roberson - Hi Loretta! Thanks for posting. Wonderful to have you as part of this community. A few weeks ago, I was looking at the work on tropical seaweeds at the Marine Biological Lab.I live in Costa Rica and am researching the potential to grow seaweed here. It seems to be more challenging than seaweed and kelp that can be grown in colder waters- but it's still worth investigating!
Thanks for your note @stephanie_cormier. Nice to e-meet you! My mother was from Costa Rica and have lots of family there so would love to talk more. You can check out our website https://www.mbl.edu/research/r... for more info on what we are doing. Pura vida!
@loretta_roberson - Hi Loretta, welcome! Thanks for all the great work you’re doing with the DOE team. There are lots of folks on the Hub interested in learning more about warm water seaweed cultivation, but this isn’t GreenWave’s area of expertise. As a subject matter expert, do you have any go-to resources, articles, or organizations that you would recommend for aspiring warm water farmers? Thanks in advance!
@lindsay_olsen - Thanks! I'd be happy to help. Maybe create a warm water farming discussion group? For a start, people can check out our website here or follow us on Twitter at @TropicSeaweed to learn about our project and what we have been doing.
@lindsay_olsen - Thanks! I'd be happy to help. Maybe create a warm water farming discussion group? For a start, people can check out our website here or follow us on Twitter at @TropicSeaweed to learn about our project and what we have been doing.
Thanks for your note @stephanie_cormier. Nice to e-meet you! My mother was from Costa Rica and have lots of family there so would love to talk more. You can check out our website https://www.mbl.edu/research/r... for more info on what we are doing. Pura vida!
@loretta_roberson
Hey my name is Jack Lawless, what credentials/experience do you look for in hiring/internships? What types of roles are understaffed in the projects you typically do or are there any skill sets that are crucial to working on kelp projects? I've been a cook/carpenter/dive shop worker/you name it and I'm looking for guidance on how to pivot my life to be a part of the kelp farming world whether it be school or bothering people until they hire me. Thank you so much for your time and the work you do!
best,
Jack
@jack_lawless Hi Jack - thanks for your question. There are definitely useful skills that vary depending on whether it is for nursery work or the farm site. For the nursery, any cell culture skills are very useful, including microbial or microalgal culture, water quality measurement, animal husbandry, or even veterinary skills. Some of those translate to the field as well, but there we need boating or SCUBA diving skills, aquaculture, mariculture, or harvesting skills. The closest experience seems to come from shellfish aquaculture since they are already farming in the sea and so adding seaweed cultivation is very simple given similarity in gear and maintenance. Hope that helps!
@jack_lawless Hi Jack - thanks for your question. There are definitely useful skills that vary depending on whether it is for nursery work or the farm site. For the nursery, any cell culture skills are very useful, including microbial or microalgal culture, water quality measurement, animal husbandry, or even veterinary skills. Some of those translate to the field as well, but there we need boating or SCUBA diving skills, aquaculture, mariculture, or harvesting skills. The closest experience seems to come from shellfish aquaculture since they are already farming in the sea and so adding seaweed cultivation is very simple given similarity in gear and maintenance. Hope that helps!