Studies testing kelp as local fix for acidifying seawater

Researchers hope it could offer a local strategy to ease the effects of ocean acidification — when seas absorb carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere by human activity, a phenomenon that raises acidity and threatens marine life.

[...] we're very hopeful that not only carbon but nutrients can be taken up and essentially removed from the water column, said Davis, a senior scientist with the Puget Sound Restoration Fund.

Scientists from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration and University of Washington will monitor seawater chemistry in and around those farms and measure whether and how much CO2 the marine macro algae take up.

Is that going to be significant to help abate ocean acidification? asked Richard Feely, senior scientist at NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle, who is also assessing the project.

Using sensors inside and outside the kelp lines, scientists took measurements of the ocean's chemistry to determine whether the ribbons of macro algae captured enough CO2 to improve surrounding waters.

Nichole Price, a senior research scientist at the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in East Boothbay, said they found what she called "a halo" of changed seawater chemistry around the farm.