Any Kelp farms on eastcoast near Maryland and VA Chespeakbay area
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Hi,
I am interested to partner with any one planning to extend their Kelp farms on eastcoast of USA. In adition to offshore farming, I want to work on to establish small and scalable hatecheries & processing units if they are profitable going forward.
Thanks,
Purnend Maroju
purnend@zentellillc.com
5028079207
@purnend_maroju7555 What type of kelp are you interested in cultivating? And what draws you to the U.S. mid-Atlantic coast as opposed to more temperate waters?
There is a small experimental kelp farm site in the Chesapeake Bay region of VA/MD that is operated by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, in collaboration with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The purpose of that effort is to test cultivation of heat-adapted kelp cultivars in warmer waters farther south than its typical geographic range. @scott_lindell may have more information.
About a decade ago, three students at UNC Chapel Hill founded Phyta and established North Carolina's first seaweed farm. I'm not sure what species they were growing and whether the operation is still active, but I suspect not.
The Nature Conservancy, Marine Biological Laboratory, and other partners have worked on seaweed farming efforts farther south in Puerto Rico and Belize, but those efforts are focused are warm-water species such as Eucheuma and Kappaphycus. TNC recently published a course on Tropical Seaweed Aquaculture that may be of interest.
@kendall_barbery @scott_lindell what would be the primary limiting factor to expanding kelp farming to the chesapeake? I saw things about licensing, but I have a connection to a local foundation interested in improving local food security in the face of these tariffs. Would capital be able to grease those wheels?
@kendall_barbery ; Thanks for the information.
@kendall_barbery
Thank you so much for sharing the TNC training course! That’s an awesome resource.
@purnend_maroju7555 I'm in this area, and while I'm not drawn to a life at sea, I am connected to capital that would be down to help expand this work locally, especially since it dove tails so well with local oyster restoration
@kendall_barbery @scott_lindell what would be the primary limiting factor to expanding kelp farming to the chesapeake? I saw things about licensing, but I have a connection to a local foundation interested in improving local food security in the face of these tariffs. Would capital be able to grease those wheels?
@kendall_barbery ; Thanks for the information.
@kendall_barbery
Thank you so much for sharing the TNC training course! That’s an awesome resource.