Recent NEWS and OPINION (2024, click image for original link)
Letter to the editor in the Portland Press Herald, 29 Oct 2024:
Stronger regulations needed for rockweed harvesting
We are writing in response to the Oct. 15 letter by Jake Patryn, Acadian Seaplants’ director of operations in Maine (“Rockweed industry backs sustainability”), who argued that rockweed harvesting is sustainable. As scientists who have reviewed published studies of the ecological effects of rockweed harvesting, we disagree with his statement that “Rockweed recovers quickly post-harvest, with no evidence that it grows back differently or has a long-term negative impact on habitat.”
Wild rockweed reaches heights of at least 3 to 6 feet in the intertidal zone, providing a vital marine habitat for fish, shorebirds and other wildlife. It can survive after harvesting if the holdfast anchoring it in place is undamaged, but it grows back slowly at the rate of only a few inches per year. Several scientific studies show that rockweed grows back bushier and shorter after a single harvest. Importantly, hardly any studies have investigated possible long-term effects of repeated harvesting on rockweed and the species that use this habitat.
Patryn stated that the rockweed industry supports stronger regulations, including “sector management, harvest quotas and closed areas.” We agree that stronger regulations are needed to protect this ecologically and commercially important seaweed habitat. Further background is available at http://rockweedforest.org.
David Porter, Ph.D.
Brooklin
Allison Snow, Ph.D.
Brooklin/Northampton, Mass.
2023 News (click image to read article)
2022 News
OCTOBER 2022:
Maine Rockweed Coalition Scientist Receives Nrcm Conservation Leadership Award” For Her Work To Ensure The Protection Of Rockweed”
April 20, 2022
April 8, 2022. Interview: Protecting Rockweed To Advance Ecological Justice
Dr. Robin Hadlock Seeley in the Temple of Understanding’s Eco Justice series. She discussed the effort to protect rockweed in the context of ecological justice.
The Temple of Understanding has been advocating for environmental justice for more than a decade, walking the talk about Interfaith values and our climate emergency. Dr. Seeley is a board member and co-founder of the Maine Rockweed Coalition.
March 2022
Video Presentation:
“Women’s Leadership On Climate Change: Coastal Ecology And Native Wisdom”. A United Nations Csw66 Parallel Event. Rockweed Issue Included.
Past Years' Rockweed Articles
2021:
- PODCAST: “Rockweed: underwater forest or industrial commodity?” Down to Earth, the Planet to Plate podcast
- ARTICLE: “Lawsuit seeks ruling on beach ownership” Quoddy Tides 14 May 2021, p. 2
- ARTICLE: ‘All other life exists within their shelter’: Protecting the irreplaceable value of Maine’s rockweed ecosystems. The Maine Monitor
2020:
- ARTICLE: “Enforcement Issues with SJC Ruling for the Rockweed Industry” Machias Valley News Observer.
2019:
- ARTICLE: “Clash along bucolic Maine coast erupts over rockweed” Washington Post; indicates industry’s desire to get back into court over rockweed ownership; foreshadows the 2021 lawsuit against rockweed landowners for exercising their First Amendment rights to contact law enforcement when rockweed was taken without their permission. “A bad presentation in court before is what snatched this away from us,” he said, referring to the case decided by Maine’s top court. “It would be great if this ends up back in court.”
- ARTICLE: “Maine’s top court rules you can’t pick seaweed without a property owner’s permission” Bangor Daily News
- ARTICLE: “Maine’s Supreme Court Says Companies Don’t Have The Right To Harvest Rockweed On Private Property” Maine Public
- ARTICLE: “Maine Supreme Court Decides Seaweed Is a Plant, Not a Fish” jdsupra.com
2018: (prior to the 2019 Maine Supreme Court decision)
- ARTICLE: “How seaweed connects us all: An unlikely debate about rockweed brings together Rachel Carson, marine biology and Maine’s supreme court” Smithsonian magazine
- ARTICLE: “A fish called Rockweed” Hakai magazine
- Washington Post: “Along Maine’s northeastern coast, seaweed stirs an international controversy”
- Maine Public radio piece:
“Homeowners and scientists clash with companies over harvesting of seaweed in Washington County” - Bangor Daily News:
“Seaweed harvesting in Down East roils homeowners, scientists” - MaineBiz:
“Rockweed harvest continues to provoke debate” - Quoddy Tides:
“Rockweed harvesting continues to stir debate around Cobscook Bay” - Quoddy Tides:
“Concerns, questions raised at rockweed harvesting forum” - MaineBiz:
“Mechanical rockweed harvesting sparks concerns on Deer Isle” - Macleans (Canada):
“In Maine, a court battle over slimy fortunes” - Island Ad-vantages: (April 2018)
“Residents hear about rockweed harvesting along the coast”
2017
- Seaweed Company to Appeal Rockweed Harvesting Decision (Maine Public)
- Judge: Rockweed on Private Land Isn’t Public Property (Maine Public)
- Rockweed and the Public Trust in Court (Fishermen’s Voice)
- No one knows who ‘owns’ rockweed in Maine (Bangor Daily News)
2016
- The value of rockweed is rising – as are tensions over its ownership (Portland Press Herald)
- The Rockweed Rush (Mother Jones)
- Sustainable Seaweed? (Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future, Cornell University)
- Maine residents vs Acadian Canada (Fishermen’s Voice)
- Rockweed: Habitat, ‘manure’ or bovine Viagra? (The Ellsworth American)
- Group consensus: No simple answers on rockweed harvesting (The Ellsworth American)
- Rift over sustainability leads to cancellation of Maine Seaweed Festival (Portland Press Herald)
- Washington County landowners file suit to block rockweed harvest (The Ellsworth American)
- Rockweed harvesting trade-offs discussed (Mount Desert Islander)
- Rockweed lawsuit escalates debate over intertidal (The Quoddy Tides)
