Hundreds of people attended Seaweed Saturday at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute in Portland.
The event included four panels on seaweed sustainability, the history of seaweed farming and how seaweed can reduce greenhouse gases.
Nichole Price, Senior Research Scientist at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, was on the panel about climate change and said seaweed captures CO2 through photosynthesis and fragments of seaweed containing the CO2 fall off the blades.
"Bigelow is working on really precise but cost-effective tools to figure out what fraction of that seaweed biomass makes it into sediments or the deep ocean," Price said. "Students and post-doctorates have been working with us to develop DNA fingerprinting tools to trace where the fragments of kelp are going in the environment."
Price said when the measurement tools are ready, they will measure carbon deposition in wild and farmed seaweed beds to add the data to their carbon accounting system that is used by coastal states.
One of Bigelow's partners, Oceans 2050, has recorded remarkable carbon deposition rates on seaweed farms that are up to 300 years old, according to Price.
The unique thing about seaweed as a climate change solution, Price said, is that it's one of the only strategies that generates both revenue and jobs.
Another way seaweed can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions is by feeding it to cows to reduce their methane burps. Methane gas, she said, is 30 times more harmful than CO2.
Saturday's event capped Seaweed Week in Maine and was introduced in 2019 to provide an interface for seaweed farmers and restaurants, according to the Maine Seaweed Council.
Bonnie Tobey is President of the Maine Seaweed Council and operates Source, a company that produces seaweed extract for animals to provide nutrients to improve their health.
Tobey said seaweed farming dates back to the 1800's when farmers used kelp to improve the soil for crops. Recent studies she said showed using it as a bio-stimulant improved crop yields for potato farmers in Aroostook County.
"They yielded an extra 3000 tons of potatoes per acre. It is absolutely amazing what it does to the root systems of plants," Tobey said.
The Maine Seaweed Council was formed in 1993 to represent farmers, scientists and researchers and work with the Department of Marine Resources on regulations and management plans to keep the seaweed industry sustainable, according to Tobey.