Commercial Seaweed Farm Coming To The Long Island Sound

STAMFORD, Conn. (CBSNewYork) - Aquaculture scientists at the University of Connecticut are poised to produce dividends from their decades of work to clean up the waters of Long Island Sound.

This fall, the first-ever commercial seaweed farm will open in the Long Island Sound.

WCBS 880 Connecticut Bureau Chief Fran Schneidau reports

The science team's decades of work has helped rid the waters of nitrogen and, as a byproduct, leaves behind edible seaweed and kelp.

"All that kelp went for sea vegetables. Most of it, actually, went into the Whole Foods markets around the east coast," team leader Professor Charles Yarish told WCBS 880 Connecticut Bureau Chief Fran Schneidau.

Yarish said the project is a win-win.

"We grow seaweed that we put into the system online so we can manage it. We give it a haircut every few weeks, harvest it at the end of our harvesting season, and we're extracting nutrients out of the coastal waters," Yarish told Schneidau.

Professor Yarish said his team is expanding the technologies and over time, the quality of the water in the Long Island Sound while continue to improve while also generating a new industry that produces everything from vegetables to biofuels.