Some of the Almost Three Hundred who Attended the Two Day Academic Seaweed Conference Opening Today at The Westin Hotel, Portland.

Wade Merritt, President of the Maine International Trade Center Dudring His Welcoming Remarks at the Seaweed Conference This Morning.

“Maine has a long, deep  connection to the sea.  The blue economy and our marine heritage industries are thriving and progressing because of that connection,” Wade Merritt, President of the Maine International Trade Center, told a crowd of almost three hundred people during his welcoming remarks at the first academic Seaweed Conference to be held in the United States that started today in Portland.

Mr. Merritt acknowledged that there are problems – from workforce shortages to coastal resiliency in the face of climate change.  It is not just a business challenge, but a policy one as well,” he said.  “But Maine is committed to fixing those challenges.”

“Everyone here knows something that someone doesn’t know.  They know  a large amount about an incredibly small amount,” said David Dietz, of the Global Seafood Alliance, of Portsmouth, NH. Dietz was hosting a booth in the trade center area of the Conference where he was trying to determine the amount of interest in a newly minted certification  standard for the seaweed industry.

“I’m here to learn about sustainable farming in the ocean,” said Glenn Laughlin, Managing Director of Pelagis Data Solutions, a Candian company.  “How do you monitize this industry to make it an ongoing business?”  A question that was on the minds of many  attendees of the two day meeting at The Westin Hotel, Portland and the reason they traveled from all over North America..

Philip Kerrison, Research Specialist in Red Seaweed, from The Netherlands said that people keep making the same mistakes over and over because they are not sharing information. “I am looking for collaborators to find ways to tackle problems.”

“Today we are working on how to solve coastal ocean challenges and produce seaweed or shellfish for markets.  The idea is to profitaably solve our ocean challenges including CO2 for the planet,” said Alyson Myers, President of Fearfess Fund, USA.  “If you want to remove nutrient pollution, grow seawood, harvest it and commit to a product.”

“This is about the future.  There will be a lot more people and no more land for growing food and biofuels.  “We’ll have to go to the ocean,” said Dr. Simon E. Freeman, ARPA -E Program Director with the US Department of Energy.

For more background information on this Seagriculture Seaweed Conference, the first to be held in North America, please visit post dated September 6, 2022.