‘Gold rush mentality’ raises concerns about seaweed sustainability
The organizers of The Maine Seaweed Festival have canceled the South Portland festival of all things kelp amid concerns about the lack of sustainability in the country’s largest seaweed-producing state.
Festival organizer Hillary Krapf, who also runs Moon and Tide, a seaweed products and education company, told the Associated Press that Maine’s seaweed industry is currently under a “gold rush mentality” as more and more companies are wanting to get a piece of the profitable industry.
Krapf told the AP that the rapidly growing popularity of seaweed farming is a problem as Maine currently doesn’t have the infrastructure needed to process and sell the product in a sustainable fashion.
“I would like to see more regulation and accountability. We can feel good about what we are promoting and make sure we are doing right by the ocean and its resources,” Krapf told the AP.
How rapid is the growth of Maine’s seaweed industry? The AP reports that approximately a decade ago, the state overtook California as the largest producer of seaweed and that between 2004 and 2014, the state quadrupled its harvest.
“We can’t meet demand without overdoing it,” Shep Erhart, president of the Maine Seaweed Council and founder of the Hancock-based Maine Coast Sea Vegetables, told the AP. “We want to make sure we can meet this demand … We need to step back and slow down a bit.”
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