The Era of Big Seaweed is Upon Us | Medill Reports Chicago

On the southern coast of Puerto Rico, there’s a place where abandoned sugar plantations dot the shoreline, residents of illegal homes dump waste directly into the ocean and blooms of green algae rise to the surface, a visual reminder of the water pollution that’s present here. Known to many as one of the island’s largest estuaries, Jobos Bay is framed by two major power plants and several economically depressed towns. It’s also the site of the Jobos Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, a federally protected area recognized for its seagrass beds, coral reefs and mangroves.

Marine scientist Loretta Roberson believes that Jobos Bay is the ideal place to test and implement a large-scale, mechanized seaweed farm to replace the land-based, inefficient seaweed farming currently used to produce fuel, chemical feedstock and animal feed. 

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