seaweed

'It's not for the faint-hearted' — the story of India's intrepid women seaweed divers

5:00am May 07, 2023

by Kamala Thiagarajan

In goggles and flipflops, they dive to harvest seaweed. It's risky work. They'll earn $3 to $6 a day. Now climate change and environmental rules make it harder to pursue the traditional profession.

A tractor plows seaweed that washed ashore into the beach sand on March 16, 2023 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Reports indicate that this summer, a huge mass of sargassum seaweed that has formed in the Atlantic Ocean is possibly headed for the Florida coastlines and shores.

Giant blobs of seaweed are hitting Florida. That's when the real problem begins

4:39pm May 05, 2023

by Emily Olson

From Montego Bay to Miami, sargassum is leaving stinky brown carpets over what was once prime tourist sand. But whether it gets ignored or removed, it comes with high health and environmental risks.

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People remove Sargassum in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, in April, 2022. Researchers expect this year will bring another massive bloom, choking local ecosystems and tourism economies.

Meet the sargassum belt, a 5,000-mile-long snake of seaweed circling Florida

9:47am March 15, 2023

by Emily Olson

Since 2011, a fleet of seaweed patches double the size of the contiguous U.S. has cycled from West Africa to Florida, threatening beaches from Martinique to Miami. This year, it could grow bigger.

Seaweed covers the Atlantic shore in Frigate Bay, St. Kitts and Nevis, on Wednesday. A record amount of seaweed is smothering Caribbean coasts from Puerto Rico to Barbados.

A record amount of seaweed is choking shores in the Caribbean

11:00am August 03, 2022

by The Associated Press

Seaweed is smothering Caribbean coasts from Puerto Rico to Barbados as tons of brown algae kill wildlife, choke the tourism industry and release toxic gases.

Men walk between the sargassum towards a boat in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, May 2019.

How To Handle A Massive Seaweed Invasion? Yucatán Towns Get Creative

7:00am August 18, 2019

by Jen Karetnick

Sargassum, a stinky algae, is choking beaches in Mexico and the Caribbean and wreaking havoc on the ecosystem — and tourism. From fertilizer to food, locals are experimenting with new uses for it.

Bren Smith is a seaweed farmer and co-founder of GreenWave, a nonprofit that supports and trains ocean farmers.

Kelp Has Been Touted As The New Kale, But It Has Been Slow To Catch On

10:49am June 03, 2019

by Alan Yu

While the seaweed has a lot of things going for it in terms of nutrition and climate friendliness, the lack of infrastructure to process it and people's tastes have not been quick to adopt it.

A picture taken in April shows sargassum seaweed on the French Caribbean Island of Guadeloupe.

Masses Of Seaweed Threaten Fisheries And Foul Beaches

4:28pm July 23, 2018

by Greg Allen

A floating, smelly mass of seaweed called sargassum is covering beaches in the Caribbean and areas along the Gulf of Mexico.

Researchers at the University of California, Davis are testing whether adding seaweed to cows' feed reduces methane emissions.

Surf And Turf: To Reduce Gas Emissions From Cows, Scientists Look To The Ocean

4:56pm July 03, 2018

by Merrit Kennedy

When cows burp, they emit the potent greenhouse gas methane into the atmosphere. But by adding seaweed to the cows' diets, researchers are noticing a dramatic reduction in methane production.

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Scientists are hoping that seagrasses could act as a buffer against acidifying oceans.

Can Seagrass Save Shellfish From Climate Change?

2:57pm January 30, 2018

by Lauren Sommer

Warming oceans are hurting the shellfish industry. Scientists are hoping that seagrasses, like seaweed, can help soak up extra carbon in the water.

At the Portsmouth Brewery in New Hampshire, the kelp beer "Selkie" is sold both on tap and in bottles.

From Ocean To Potion: Kelp Finds A Niche In The Craft Beer Market

5:02pm September 08, 2017

by Andrea Shea

Kelp isn't a new flavor enhancer for brewers. For hundreds of years, coastal farmers in Scotland grew grains in seaweed beds. But briny brews have been slow to catch on in the United States.