Kevin Posman, Senior Research Associate at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences,  Was Part of the Final Panei at the 2023 National Seaweed Symposium, Held in Portland at The Westin.

Some of the Participants at the 2023 National Seaweed Symposium  at The Westin, Portland, Today.

Ahmed Moor, of Biorefinery, Philddela]phia, PA.,  with Karlotia Rieve,  of Hatch Innovation Services.  The Latter is an International Company.  Rieve was a Speaker on Global Production & Innovation in an Afternoon Session.

Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Services, Maine’s premiere scientific ocean research organization, ended the final day of the second National Seaweed Symposium held at The Westn Hotel, in Portland, late this afternoon.

The Symposium was an opportunity to network and share information as well as provide technical information for the many participants.  An example of that sharing of new and important  information came from “Ocean Approved” of Saco. It announced the company had obtained a machine from South Africa to dry kelp.  Kelp, a kind of seaweed, is 90% water. So drying it is a challenge.

One estimate is that the US is about 20 – 30 years behind far eastern countries such as South Korea, Japan and China on the development and use of seaweed, said Dana Morse, of the Darling Marine Center, Walpole.

Two  hundred and fifty signed up for this Symposium hosted by a coalition of Sea Grant non-profits from Maine, Oregon, and New Hampshire.  Jaclyn Robidous, of the Maine Sea Grant, was the Lead Organizer.  The first National Seawood Symposium was  held in Connecticut several years ago.

The 2023 National Seaweed Symposium attracted seaweed leaders from across the country, including farmers, harvesters, processos, businesses, researchers, state and federal regulators, community leaders and many more.  Partiipants came from all over the US plus Canada, Mexico, and Denmark.

Over the three days the sessions included Post-Harvesting & Processing, Market Opportunities, and Economic & Business Planning platforms.

The last panel of the day focused on Seaweed & Climate a focus of Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences. Microbiologist Kevin Posman, a Senior Research Associate at Bigelow, described his research on feeding seaweed to cows to enhance milk production and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Posman explained that cows burp up large quantities of methane, a greenhouse gas.  The goal is to determine whether feeding cows seaweed would  reduce greenhouse emissions.  Currently Posman and a team of ten scientists are working with dozens of cows from a farm in Brunswick and the University of New Hampshire.  The research is only 2 -3 years into the project – too soon to come up with any conclusions said Posman, who has been employed at Bigelow for nine years, having worked for the Maine researach organization since soon after his completion of graduate school at Cornell. Agriculture is a major contributor to greenhouse emissions along with transportation.  Funding for the research comes from the USDA said Posman.

An opening reception was held at Portland Hunt & Alpine Club, and a closing event at Oxbow Blending & Bottling, 49 Washington Avenue this evening.