{"id":14281,"date":"2021-01-27T10:45:46","date_gmt":"2021-01-27T10:45:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=155052"},"modified":"2021-01-27T10:45:46","modified_gmt":"2021-01-27T10:45:46","slug":"hes-helping-fishermen-adapt-to-climate-change-and-an-economic-crisis-by-becoming-kelp-farmers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/01\/27\/hes-helping-fishermen-adapt-to-climate-change-and-an-economic-crisis-by-becoming-kelp-farmers\/","title":{"rendered":"He\u2019s helping fishermen adapt to climate change and an economic crisis \u2014 by becoming kelp farmers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sean Barrett<\/strong><\/a> grew up fishing on the rocky shores of Montauk, a village on the eastern edge of Long Island, New York. He\u2019d regularly eat winter flounder and tautog he pulled from the sea that day. To him, grocery-store filets will never compare to the flavor of a fresh catch. He launched Dock to Dish<\/a> four years ago to give people around the country the same experience.<\/p>\n

Home cooks and restaurateurs who subscribe to Dock to Dish receive regular deliveries of their local fishery\u2019s catch of the day. Barrett\u2019s mission is threefold: connect consumers to the people who provide their food; support small, sustainable fisheries; and cut the emissions created by shipping fish around the globe. (A lot of the fish at your local market traveled 5,000 miles to get there. Dock to Dish limits deliveries to a 150-mile radius around Montauk.)<\/p>\n

Now the 2016 Grist 50 Fixer<\/a> is rethinking the \u201cfish\u201d part of that mission \u2014 or rather, expanding on it. In October, Dock to Dish launched the Eat More Kelp<\/a> campaign. The company joined ocean-farming nonprofit GreenWave<\/a> in selling merch, making videos, and enlisting ambassadors (including Fixer and marine biologist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson<\/a>) to tout the merits of cooking with the nutrient-packed, carbon-capturing superfood.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s just phase one. Barrett and Bren Smith<\/a>, the brain behind GreenWave, are leading an effort to train and equip fishermen interested in growing kelp. Seventeen farms are set to open off the coast of New York this winter, and people can start signing up<\/a> for the world\u2019s first \u201ccommunity-supported kelp crop\u201d project that, much like Dock to Dish, funnels money into the new businesses and delivers kelp to adventurous eaters\u2019 doorsteps.<\/p>\n

We talked to Barrett about why sustainable fishing and restorative ocean farming are the power couple of climate solutions \u2014 and how encouraging fisheries to diversify their products can help them adapt to global warming and survive the pandemic-induced economic fallout. His comments have been edited for length and clarity.<\/p>\n

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\u201cYou\u2019re not the boss \u2014 nature is\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/p>\n

For years now, climate change has been pushing small fisheries to adapt. I often tell people, \u201cYou can see climate change in the oceans much more clearly than on land.\u201d The Long Island lobster, for example, has migrated out of the area because the water has warmed. Black sea bass, historically indigenous to North Carolina, has relocated to the mid-Atlantic, overrunning our area and wreaking havoc on the ecosystem. These shifting migration patterns are like standing at the Eiffel Tower and watching a herd of zebras and wildebeests run by. But watermen are used to adapting \u2014 working in the wild will teach you that you\u2019re not the boss, nature is.<\/p>\n

Last year, Dock to Dish saw the pandemic as an opportunity to put all our muscle into restorative ocean farming and kelp farming, which we\u2019d been working on behind the scenes for awhile. Despite their resilience, small fisheries are still on life support because restaurant closures are wiping out a huge source of revenue. They\u2019ll need even more help as climate change worsens. For a lot of fishers or oyster growers, their season winds down in the fall. But the kelp season starts between December and March. Ocean farming can provide a counterbalance, making for a year-round operation. That\u2019s a huge help to a lot of coastal watermen and commercial fisheries.<\/p>\n

When fishing meets farming<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Maine has had a pretty robust kelp industry for years because a lot of lobster fishermen have shifted to being kelp farmers, too. We\u2019re targeting oyster farmers to help them do the same. There are hundreds of boutique oyster growers from Maryland to Rhode Island who harvest just one species, making them vulnerable to climate change. We\u2019ve started retrofitting these farms to include kelp. It\u2019s been fun to see these watermen innovating new gear and methods.<\/p>\n

Kelp farms also create incredible habitat for smaller crustaceans and other creatures that fish like to eat. So ocean farming doesn\u2019t just give fisherfolk something else to sell \u2014 it can boost fish populations, further sustaining their tried-and-true operations.<\/p>\n

Bren Smith and I have been friends for a long time, and we used to speak on climate-solutions panels together. He was like, \u201cOcean vegetables are the answer,\u201d and I was always like, \u201cNo, community-supported fisheries and seafood are!\u201d We had to learn that those two solutions are not mutually exclusive. They jive really well together.<\/p>\n

The win-win-win-win-win of climate solutions<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Kelp sequesters five times more carbon than land-based plants. It requires no fresh water, no fertilizer. It creates aquatic habitats for smaller species like algae, which fuel entire trophic systems. And the output from one acre of ocean is around eight times higher than what you can grow on one acre of land. That can help the world efficiently feed an ever-growing population.<\/p>\n

Kelp absorbs nitrogen, which is much needed in eastern Long Island. Fertilizer from lawns and golf courses has poisoned the ecosystem. Growing up, I would fish and swim in the Hampton Bays. The waterways were full of life. Now they look like the surface of the moon. We\u2019ll be working with marine biologists at nearby Stony Brook University to quantify exactly how much nitrogen and carbon we\u2019re pulling out of the atmosphere and the water. Eat More Kelp is shaping up to be a win-win-win-win-win situation.<\/p>\n

Kelp \u2026 the new kale?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The campaign is also supporting a key part of Dock to Dish\u2019s original goal, which is to get people excited about experimenting with new kinds of seafood. Four species dominate the American fish market: salmon, tuna, shrimp, and cod. We\u2019ve always tried to break through the norms and introduce folks to what\u2019s abundant in their area \u2014 like the great northern tilefish or the Atlantic chub mackerel. Now we hope to do the same with kelp \u2014 and make it the new kale.<\/p>\n

I go to bed thinking about this project every night, and it\u2019s the first thing on my mind when I wake up in the morning. Bren Smith says I\u2019m a terrible dinner date because all I ever talk about is kelp. But I can\u2019t help it \u2014 it\u2019s all just so exciting!<\/p>\n