Uncertain future for 'super' seaweed after court ruling
Source: Associated Press
Uncertain future for ‘super’ seaweed after court ruling
By PATRICK WHITTLE
May 5, 2019
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Maine’s seaweed business has grown like a weed in recent years, with proponents touting it as both a “superfood” and an economic generator for the rural state — but the industry is now facing sticky new restrictions.
Maine has a long tradition of seaweed harvesting, in which the algae is gathered for a wide variety of commercial uses, including some popular food products. Now, a recent court ruling could dramatically change the nature of the business in Maine, which has seen the harvest of the gooey stuff grow by leaps and bounds in the last decade, industry members said.
The state’s highest court ruled last month that permission from coastal landowners is needed for harvesting rockweed, a type of seaweed that’s critical to the industry. The Maine Seaweed Council, an industry advocacy group, has called the ruling “a disappointing setback” that will force harvesters to adjust.
The court’s decision could mandate the implementation of rules that are difficult to enforce, said George Seaver, a vice president of Waldoboro firm Ocean Organics who has been involved in processing rockweed for 40 years. Rockweed is harvested from tidal mudflats where property boundaries can be ill-defined, he said.
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But the property owners have their own environmental concerns, arguing in the lawsuit they “think that rockweed is a vital cornerstone of the Gulf of Maine food web, and other species depend on it,” Smith said. “The concern had to do with the extraction of a resource that all these fisheries depend on.”
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Read more: https://apnews.com/001066e619c5422ca6828c467bb9417a
