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Hayle Clark

Environmental Seminars

April 1, 2015

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cultivation of Seaweed

Dr. Charles Yarish

 

            Dr. Charles Yarish is a marine biologist. When he was younger he wanted to be a doctor, until one day when one of his professors told him that we would be better off doing something more exciting than being a doctor. In 1969 he went to Canada, where he study marine biology. After being in Canada he decided to finish his education in ecology an evolutionary biology at the University of Connecticut. He spend 45 years of his life study in the field of seaweed biology. Seaweed is good for the environment.

            Humans have been added too much nitrogen into the environment today.  This nitrogen has been going into the Long Island Sound. The need for nitrogen form the Long Island Sound has been a big deal for many of the marine biologist in Connecticut. These marine biologist have been utilizing organisms that deal with the growing problem. The process of solving this problem is to extract some of the nitrogen which will remove some of the nutrients from the ecosystem. This will enhance the biological production of the ecosystem. Seaweed is one of the items that is used to remove the nutrients from the water. Seaweed is the biggest used item for this, it is also a valuable crop.

            Seaweed is used all of the world for food, feed, medicine leather, and cosmetics. There have been many places around the world called farm systems that have been made to cultivate the seaweed to use it for environmental health and profit. Located near Long Island Sound is three of the farm systems that cultivate these products. Two of the sites produce kelp which is the number one most cultivated species in the world. There is a need for the cultivation industries in Long Island Sound.

            There are many different types of seaweed species. Some of the seaweeds species are Saccharina and Gracilaria Tikvahiae. Saccharina is a sugar kelp brown seaweed which grows from November to May. The Gracilaria Tikvahiae is red seaweed which grows from June to October. These types of seaweed are crops that can be grown and farmed year round. Dr. Yarish has given the public helpful resources which is making all of his research available for free. He has books and videos that we has out for people to see for free about the work that he does. One of the books that he has out for people is called the New England Seaweed Culture Handbook which can teach people about how to grow and cultivate seaweed.

            He has research in many of the excess nutrients that are bad for the Long Island sound. This is bad for the quality of the water in the Sound. The type of aquatic agriculture that is used to improve the water quality can also serve as a purpose as well. This is because this type of work is extremely rewarding for whoever takes advantage of it. He is doing a lot of work to continue to grow and improve the water quality. He is also working really well with the seaweed products.

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