seaweed Archives - Northwest Public Broadcasting

Swelling school of seaweed farmers looking to anchor in somewhat choppy Northwest waters

By Tom Banse December 15, 2022

Workers harvest kelp in Hood Canal at Washington's first commercial seaweed farm, Blue Dot Sea Farms.

Prospective kelp growers who want to join the handful of existing commercial seaweed farms in the Pacific Northwest are having to contend with a lengthy permitting process. It's gotten contentious in a few cases, but even so, at least a couple of new seaweed farms stand on the cusp of approval. Their harvests could be sold for human food, animal feed or fertilizer.Read More

Rising Tide: Pacific Northwest Could Soon Double Or Triple Its Small Number Of Seaweed Farms

By Tom Banse September 26, 2022

Lummi Island Sea Farms proposes to grow sugar kelp during the cool part of the year on part of the marine footprint used in summer by anchored reefnet fishing gears in Legoe Bay

There's a rising tide of interest in opening seaweed farms in the Pacific Northwest. If even half of the current applicants succeed, it would more than double the small number of commercial seaweed growing operations in Oregon and Washington state.Read More

Whatever Happened To The Sensational Seaweed That Supposedly Tastes Like Bacon?

By Tom Banse July 24, 2019

Dulse is the common name for a seaweed that has hints of bacon taste when cooked. CREDIT: TOM BANSE/N3

Oregon State University created something of a sensation back in 2015 when researchers announced they discovered and patented "seaweed that tastes like bacon." Four years later, the hard work of commercialization continues, but guilt-free bacon from the sea remains elusive.Read More