Intro

To hear proponents talk about it, seaweed could solve a whole lot of problems. It could feed people, restore polluted habitats and be an economic boost for fishermen. Though seaweed aquaculture has grown in the U.S. in recent years, the country produced less than 1% of the global seaweed crop in 2019. Now, some companies are trying to get seaweed aquaculture to scale in the U.S. But there are regulatory hurdles to overcome, and researchers have questions about how a scaled industry would affect existing ecosystems. WSJ’s Alex Ossola looks at what it will take to make seaweed a bigger part of the American diet in the future.  

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Further reading:

Inside the Quest for a Super Kelp That Can Survive Hotter Oceans 

Cows Make Climate Change Worse. Could Seaweed Help? 

A Sargassum Bloom Is Hitting Florida: What to Know About the Seaweed Mass 

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