An Indigenous-run business is using regenerative ocean farming to clean up a Long Island bay and create local jobs.
Kelp farmers Donna Collins-Smith, Danielle Hopson Begun and Waban Tarrant. Credit: Cameron Peter.
"In 2019, Tela Troge, an attorney who has represented the Shinnecock Nation in federal land rights cases, was looking for a way to create jobs and clean up (Long Island's) Shinnecock Bay. That’s when GreenWave, a nonprofit that promotes regenerative ocean farming, approached the community about starting a kelp hatchery.
"Troge and five other women from her community formed the Shinnecock Kelp Farm, the first Indigenous-run farm of its kind on the East Coast.
"Greenwave’s model 'so closely matched our skills, our expertise, our traditional ecological knowledge,' Troge said. The Shinnecock practiced regenerative ocean farming long before the term existed; they farmed scallops, mollusks, oysters and clams — all natural water purifiers — together with seaweed.
"This system of kelp removing nitrogen near the surface while shellfish do the same down below creates powerful water filtration, said Charles Yarish, an emeritus marine evolutionary biologist at the University of Connecticut. It’s an ancient model. 'If you go into Chinese literature, even to ancient Egypt, you will see examples of those cultures having integrated aquaculture,' he said.
"Kelp feeds off excess carbon dioxide, nitrogen and phosphorus. The last two are pollutants responsible for harmful algal blooms that have killed off plants and animals in Shinnecock Bay, said Christopher Gobler, a marine scientist at Stony Brook University on Long Island. Kelp blades are lined with cells containing sulfated polysaccharides, essentially chains of sugar molecules that give kelp its slimy texture. These polysaccharides bind with nitrogen and phosphorus, pulling both out of the water and dissolving the nitrogen into a compound called nitrate. The dissolved nitrogen is what makes kelp a potent natural fertilizer."
Article: Can Kelp Farming Bring Back Shinnecock Bay?
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