The next frontier

Early this year, I noticed the dwindling of the kelp forests of Tasmania at reference 1. More recently there was a piece in the NYRB about seaweed generally and the possibilities of farming the stuff. A piece which ended on a cautious note: do we know enough, can we manage the activity well enough, for it to be safe for us to move to industrial scale seaweed farming?

Then yesterday I noticed an video piece in the FT about seaweed farming, from, I think, the people at reference 4. And to listen to them you would think that seaweed farming is fusion for food: no inputs, unlimited outputs to consume, no waste products to dispose of. And it seems that a fair bit of it is already going on.

I think I am with the NYRB on this one, a bit uneasy. Given that we have done so much damage to the planet already, is it wise to risk doing a whole lot more? That said, seaweed farming does appear to offer us a lot, so maybe it is right to give it a go. But not to go in too fast. Let's feel our way a bit, take a bit of time before we start on the equivalent of opencast mining or forest clearance.

Reference 1: psmv4: Forests at sea.

Reference 2: The Oldest Forest: The promise and pitfalls of commercializing kelp - Lucy Jakub/NYRB - 2020. December 17, 2020 issue.

Reference 3: Seaweed: sustainable crop of the future? - FT - 2020.

Reference 4: Seaweed Solutions.

Reference 5: psmv4: And another irritation. A moan about the use of video clips in the FT.