Kelp Us Kelp You

Kelp farming has exponential benefits, both environmental and economic — which is why so many heads were shaking in disbelief last month when Governor Kathy Hochul vetoed legislation that would have permitted seaweed growers to lease state-owned underwater lands.

Cultivating seaweed removes carbon dioxide and excess nutrients from waters, which helps to mitigate climate change as well as nitrogen and phosphorous pollution. Farmed seaweed may be sold as a food product or as organic fertilizer that provides an abundant alternative to chemical fertilizers, which easily enter groundwater and surface waters.

Removing nutrient pollution from bays and stopping it from entering surface waters in the first place will, in turn, reduce the occurrence of algal blooms, such as brown tide and red tide that kill off both finfish and shellfish that New York’s commercial fishing and marine recreation industries rely upon.

This nascent aquaculture industry has so much potential, as has already been demonstrated in New England, in Alaska and right here on the East End. The governor’s given reasoning is that she wants to wait and see how Suffolk County’s seaweed cultivation program taking place between the South Fork and North Fork works out before committing the state to leasing out its own underwater lands.

But Hochul’s cautiousness is misplaced. Climate change and the proliferation of harmful algal blooms are emergencies that demand immediate action. Why wait to implement a solution that has been demonstrated around the country to be commercially viable?

The governor had the opportunity to unlock job opportunities and reverse environmental turmoil. Instead, she chose to be an impediment to a climate change and nutrient pollution solution that will cost taxpayers nothing.

In December 2021, Hochul signed legislation that made 110,000 acres of the Peconic Estuary available for seaweed farming leases. It was a good start — and there is no reason to lose momentum now.