Researchers rush to understand kelp forests as harvesting increases
A growing seaweed industry based on the production of alginate, a thickener used in the food, textiles and pharmaceutical industries, has driven a boom in harvesting of kelp off the coasts of Chile and Peru.
At the same time, researchers are warning that kelp remains relatively understudied, and that large-scale harvesting of kelp forests could have significant ecosystem impacts.
To fill this information gap and push for sustainable management of this resource, scientists are carrying out important research, but have been stymied by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The kelp forests of the oceans are a habitat for a wide range of marine species, rivaling even the great tropical forests for sheer richness of biodiversity, according to scientists from the KELPER project, which studies these marine algae ecosystems.