Ethan Prall Share:
Seaweeds can have significant benefits for combating climate change, and the extent of seaweed industry regulation in the United States will be a key issue in the coming years. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), society needs many different climate mitigation technologies to achieve “net zero emissions” in time to prevent climate disaster.
See, e.g.,
IPCC,
Global Warming of 1.5°C 17 (Valérie Masson-Delmotte et al. eds., 2019). Seaweed harvest promises to be a significant climate mitigation tool because seaweeds absorb vast amounts of carbon while supplying foods and renewable fuels.
Still, overexploitation of seaweeds can create problems for ocean ecosystems that must be managed. Seaweed harvest in U.S. federal waters is currently regulated, but the appropriate extent of such regulation is debatable. Commenters have argued that for ocean ecosystems to