A new crop

Giant kelp before harvesting

From Robert Whitcomb’s “Digital Diary,’’ in GoLocal24.com

We New Englanders think  more about  lobsters as we head into summer. But they’re disappearing from much of the southern New England coast, apparently mostly because of warming waters. Waters are warming in the lobster heartland of the Maine Coast, too, but not too much yet to slash harvests. At the same time, key finfish species are declining. So to find other ways of continuing to work on that storied coast, some former and current lobstermen and other fishermen are getting into oyster and other shellfish aquaculture, and now kelp, which is sold as a very healthy food.

The kelp farms have another attribute:

Our fossil-fuel burning is loading carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, much of which of it then goes into the oceans, where it makes the water more acidic. Among other damage, this harms the development of the shells of oysters, and hurts lobsters,  too. But kelp farms reduce the acidity of the water around them, creating sites not only better for shellfish but also for other creatures.