Kelp Farming Is On Its Way
Lofoten is an archipelago in the county of Nordland, Norway. Though lying within the Arctic Circle, the archipelago experiences one of the world’s largest elevated temperature anomalies relative to its high latitude. Wikipedia. Photo source: ©© Norte
Excerpts; By SINTEF, via AlphaGalileo
The Norwegian coastline, including all its islands, is twice as long as the Equator. In other words, possesses huge areas that are suitable for cultivating seaweed and kelp.
Today, some 15 million tonnes of seaweed and kelp are cultivated all over the world, mostly in Asia, and are used in foods, animal feedstuffs, chemicals, medicines, health foods, cosmetics and fertilisers.
An underwater “field” as big as a Norwegian county could provide two billion litres of kelp-based fuel a year.
Although harvesting removes less than one percent of Norway’s standing seaweed and kelp biomass, we do not recommend taking out more than this amount… as kelp forests are actually important nursery and feeding grounds for a wide range of invertebrates and fish. If we want to expand our kelp-based industry, we will have to cultivate kelp on a large scale.”
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