UMaine Cited in Mainebiz Article on Seaweed Farming
The University of Maine was mentioned in a Mainebiz article about seaweed farming and the expansion of Maine Coast Sea Vegetables, a Down East company that sells sea vegetables as whole foods. According to UMaine’s Maine Sea Grant, there are more than 250 species of sea vegetables in the Gulf of Maine. Although most are edible, fewer than a dozen are commercially harvested, the article states. In 2013, Maine Coast Sea Vegetables began working with the UMaine’s Center for Cooperative Aquaculture Research (CCAR) in Franklin and Maine Sea Grant to develop seeded nets and ropes for aquaculture production, the article states. Sea Grant’s research on seaweed farming that is building on research conducted by Susan Brawley, a professor of plant biology in the School of Marine Sciences and a cooperating professor in the School of Biology and Ecology, also was mentioned. “There’s a lot of momentum, as a new industry,” said Sarah Redmond, a marine extension agent for Maine Sea Grant at CCAR, of seaweed farming.