This means there's a lot of interest in keeping old rigs in place and rehabbing/repurposing them.
Seaweed farming is a great 2nd life for these. Because again, seaweed can also help clean up one of the Gulf's other big environmental problems: nutrient runoff.
Here comes the fun part: there is no seaweed farm tech that works for the Gulf of Mexico.
So far seaweed farming is either 1) hand-farm tropical seaweeds all year long in quiet, shallow waters around the Indian & Pacific, or 2) high-value kelp in pounding freezing Arctic waters.
The Gulf is kinda the worst of both worlds from a seaweed farming POV. Just like land agriculture, the US needs to automate seaweed to make it worthwhile. But the farms also have to be able to handle a hurricane.
Anyway, that's why we're starting with a few tests!
(before everyone comes in with "isn't that just Waterworld?"
yes and no? Waterworld sure happened and it was kind of a formative experience bc it happened I was at the right age to imprint on stuff like a baby bird, but Mad Max gets all the remakes. like these dang rigs, it lives forever)
@qotca@sarahtaber if you do a cast about this, then one of the questions that needs to be asked is why we need to use Toxic Plastic for the seaweed infrastructure?
Look to the local First Nations tribes along the coast. They will have knowledge about what kinds of materials can hold up in water.
@sarahtaber Do not use toxic plastic for the rope. Goodness knows we have enough plastic in our bodies already.
Use things like woven flax, woven hemp, woven canvas rope.
@christopherd Natural fibers decompose. Unfortunately, using ropes that rot defeats the purpose of farming.
Since they weaken quickly, natural fiber ropes also break off & become "ghost nets" more often than plastic ones. They drift away and entangle and drown wildlife: sea turtles, dolphins, manatees, & whales.
I'm not a huge fan of plastic. Any other materials that do the job are welcome as they become available. However natural fiber ropes are not a good alternative for this use case.
@sarahtaber I was going to ask how does seaweed clean the ocean? I found the answer:
“Although carbon and carbon sequestration by kelp received most of the attention, kelp is actually much better at mitigating excessive amounts of nitrogen than carbon,” Umanzor said. “I think that’s a story that’s really underlooked.”
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