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Transcript/ScriptCONNECT: Kelp Farming (TV)
HEADLINE: Kelp Farming in Maine
TEASER: Fishermen feeding the ocean while finding new streams of income
PUBLISHED AT: 03/20/2023
BYLINE: Aaron Fedor
DATELINE: Portland, Maine
VIDEOGRAPHER: Aaron Fedor
PRODUCER: Kathleen McLaughlin, Kyle Dubiel, Zdenko Novacki
COURTESIES:
SCRIPT EDITORS: MJ/AK
VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO __
TRT: 2:47
VID APPROVED BY: MJ/AK
TYPE: VPKGF
EDITOR NOTES: ))
((Eds: This is a self-narrated feature.))
((INTRO))
((Kelp is a large brown seaweed that lives in cold, relatively shallow waters near
shorelines. It can be eaten and is used as an ingredient in food products and nutritional
supplements. Aaron Fedor traveled to Maine to show us how seafood fishermen are
adding to their incomes by sustainably farming kelp in the off-season.))
((NATS))
((Briana Warner, President/CEO, Atlantic Sea Farms))
We're looking at a pretty significant economic development issue here on the coast of
Maine as the Gulf of Maine warms faster than 98% of oceans in the world. We're
working with fishermen to diversify their income by farming kelp in their off-season.
((NATS))
((Matt Moretti, Co-Owner/CEO, Bang Island Mussels))
The working waterfront in Maine is traditionally very independent. Most of the people
that I can think of are all, you know, owner operators or own independent boats, and I'm
mostly thinking about lobstermen here. The ASF [Atlantic Sea Farms] model allows
people to maintain their independent owner operator status, but also get the support
that they need to venture into a new field that's totally different from wild capture.
((NATS))
((Matt Moretti, Co-Owner/CEO, Bang Island Mussels))
I started out farming mussels in 2010 and very soon after that, we decided to add kelp
to the mix. The main reason was that it was a chance to do even more positive
environmental good. Kelp is grown in the winter. It's a very fast-growing organism. So,
we plant all of our kelp, 40,000 feet of it in the middle fall, you know, sometime October,
November. We grow it over the winter exclusively. We maintain it during that period and
then we harvest it all in the early spring.
((NATS))
((Briana Warner, President/CEO, Atlantic Sea Farms))
We help fishermen get their leases. We help our partner farmers seek their spots, set
up their farms. We provide technical assistance on how to grow kelp. We have an
overarching kelp transfer kind of program, and then we also grow all of the seeds for the
kelps, and we give those seeds to our partner farmers for free.
((NATS))
((Matt Moretti, Co-Owner/CEO, Bang Island Mussels))
Kelp is good for the environment because it helps remove some of the excess nutrients
that are in coastal ecosystems. Often those nutrients are caused by human reasons,
human sources. So, kelp actually absorbs those nutrients from the water, which can
help balance ecosystem, make a healthier coastal ecosystem.
((NATS))
((Briana Warner, President/CEO, Atlantic Sea Farms))
I think what I get most excited about with my job is I get to really challenge conventional
wisdom about what a food system can be and what food can do for people and the
environment. So, to be able to look at the coast and see the exact same issues that
we're confronting everywhere else, just maybe 20 years early, so that we can actually
do something about it, is pretty exciting. And so, we can also be, not only like a warning
sign for the rest of the world, but also a beacon of hope for how we can go about
climate change adaptation in a way that is thoughtful and preemptive.
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)
Portland, Maine
Embargo DateMarch 20, 2023 16:13 EDT
Byline
Aaron Fedor, VOA News
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
