Seaweed Facts

 

Rockweed

Seaweed offers enormous potential as a food source. In North America, scientists, entrepreneurs, harvesters, and others are undertaking an array of projects aimed at increasing seaweed production.

Seaweed Facts

"Seaweed" is the common name for marine plants and algae that grow in the ocean as well as in rivers, lakes, and other water bodies.

Seaweed is used in salads, nutritional supplements, beer, personal care products, fish feed, and other items.

Most seaweed consumed in the U.S. is imported from Asia.

Researchers are exploring the potential of seaweed as biofuel, cattle feed, and other uses.

Giant kelp can grow up to 14 inches in one day, reaching lengths of 100 feet or more.

The gel inside rockweed bulbs is useful to treat sunburns and cuts.

Seaweeds remove carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus from the environment.

There are approximately 550 species of seaweeds known to occur in Alaska. Some species are found only in Alaska waters.

The U.S. seaweed industry is still in its early stages. Production occurs in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, Hawaii, and throughout New England.

In the Northeast U.S., seaweed is grown beginning in November and harvested in the spring. 

Oyster farmers can grow seaweed in their offseason to provide additional revenue.

Maine has a wild harvested seaweed industry, which harvested ̴roughly 15 million pounds in 2022.

The National Seaweed Hub is a science-based, non-advocate resource for the domestic seaweed aquaculture industry and associated sectors.

Atlantic Salmon Tank Aquaculture Research

Atlantic Salmon

Maryland Sea Grant and University of Maryland, Baltimore County, are lead partners in a multi-state consortium to receive a $1.2 million grant to study how to optimally grow Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) in land-based aquaculture systems.

The competitive grant comes from the National Sea Grant Office, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It is part of a major agency effort to increase domestic aquaculture production and reduce the trade deficit associated with salmon imports.

According to the agency, about 90 percent of all seafood consumed in the United States is imported. Only about half of that comes from aquaculture, which puts pressure on wild stocks. Those imports add to a growing seafood trade deficit, already at $16 billion in 2017.

The funding will establish a coordinated network of recirculating aquaculture systems raising Atlantic salmon in land-based systems that re-use the water to grow fish.

Closed-system aquaculture allows for fish production in more affordable areas closer to population centers, which will lower the cost of production as well as the carbon footprint for transport. These systems recycle water and treat the waste with beneficial microbes, increasing sustainability.

Americans consume 500,000 tons of Atlantic salmon annually, 95 percent of which is imported, and valued at $3.4 billion, according to Yonathan Zohar, the chair of the UMBC Department of Marine Biotechnology and the grant’s lead principal investigator.

Zohar, based at Baltimore’s Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology, oversees one of the nation’s most sophisticated aquaculture research operations. The new grant, he said, “offers an opportunity for domestic production of Atlantic salmon to replace all of these imports. The only way to really scale that up is with land-based systems that are environmentally sustainable. This allows us to identify the bottlenecks, address the issues and develop a strategic plan to make sure this emerging Atlantic salmon aquaculture industry can be successful.”

Maryland Sea Grant Director Fredrika Moser said she saw tremendous value in a multi-disciplinary approach to growing domestic aquaculture through this grant. “Sea Grant is excited to work with our partners in research and industry to develop a roadmap that will help policymakers and federal agencies promote an economically feasible and environmentally sustainable land-based domestic aquaculture industry,” she said.

This effort to build these systems’ capacity and research their economic feasibility includes Sea Grant partners in Maine and Wisconsin as well as the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, University of Maryland Extension, Morgan State University, the USDA National Cold Water Marine Aquaculture Center, the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Northern Aquaculture Demonstration Facility, and the Conservation Fund’s Freshwater Institute in West Virginia.

Industry partners and collaborators include Superior Fresh in Wisconsin, Whole Oceans, LLC and Nordic Aquafarms in Maine, and American Salmon in Maryland, among others.

source: Maryland Sea Grant

Status of Stocks 2018 Report (NOAA)

Winter Flounder

In August, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released the 2018 Status of U.S. Fisheries Annual Report to Congress, that details the status of 479 managed stocks or stock complexes in the U.S. to identify which stocks are subject to overfishing, are overfished, or are rebuilt to sustainable levels.

The report notes that the vast majority of U.S. fish stocks were at sustainable population levels in 2018, and the number of U.S. fish stocks subject to overfishing remains at a near all-time low..

The report also documents a newly-rebuilt stock, smooth skate in the Gulf of Maine. This brings the total number of rebuilt U.S. marine fish stocks to 45 since the year 2000

A stock is on the overfishing list when the harvest rate of that species is too high. Of 321 stocks with known status, 293 (91%) are not subject to overfishing. The remaining 28 stocks (9%) are subject to overfishing..

Seven stocks were removed from the overfishing list, and five were added in 2018. As required under the Magnuson-Stevens Act (the U.S. ocean fisheries law), NOAA Fisheries works with regional fishery management councils and other partners to implement measures to immediately end overfishing.

A stock is on the overfished list when the population size of a stock is too low, whether because of fishing or other causes, such as environmental changes..

Of 244 stocks with known status, 201 (or 82%) are not overfished, leaving 43 stocks (18%) listed as overfished. No stocks were removed from the overfished list in 2018, but eight were added.

For more information, visit: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/media-release/number-us-fish-stocks-sustainable-levels-remains-near-record-high

source: NOAA Fisheries

FAO Report: State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture - 2014

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations recently released its 2014 edition of The State of the World Fisheries and Aquaculture.

The report highlights global trends and statistics in wild and aquaculture fisheries production and their importance to the global economy.

The report is available at: http://www.fao.org/3/a-i3720e/index.html

2012 USA Seafood Consumption

Americans consumed 4.5 billion pounds of seafood in 2012, according to Fisheries of the United States 2012, an annual report from NOAA Fisheries.

On average, Americans enjoyed 14.4 pounds of fish and shellfish in 2012. Average consumption was down four percent from 15.0 pounds in 2011.

According to the report, U.S. commercial fishermen landed 9.6 billion pounds of fish and shellfish in 2012, valued at $5.1 billion.

source: NOAA Fisheries

Donation from Santa Monica Seafood to Help Rebuild Crab Stocks

Santa Monica Seafood, a family-owned seafood company based in Santa Monica, California, made a donation to Alaska Sea Grant for its research program aimed at rebuilding Alaska’s collapsed red and blue king crab stocks.

David Christie, director of Alaska Sea Grant, welcomed the donation. Chistie said the money will be used to support research being done by the Alaska King Crab Research, Rehabilitation and Biology Program (AKCRRAB), a partnership between Alaska Sea Grant, regional fishermen's groups, coastal communities, NOAA Fisheries, the Alutiiq Pride Shellfish Hatchery and Chugach Regional Resources Commission, and the UAF School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences.

Drawing on lessons learned each year, AKCRRAB scientists at the Alutiiq Pride Hatchery in Seward, Alaska, have steadily applied what they’ve learned about water temperature, flow rate, and artificial habitat to improve larval survival and hatchery productivity. They also experimented with types of food as well as feeding procedures for growing crab larvae. This year, 2.7 million red king crab successfully hatched from some 18 female red king crab.

Understanding the details of hatching and raising king crab in a hatchery is considered by commercial fishermen and researchers as a key step toward providing state fishery managers with the information they need to decide whether hatchery enhancement can help rebuild depleted king crab stocks.

source: Alaska Sea Grant