In early January 2022 – approximately four months after submitting applications – our kelp project was approved to proceed. Jackpot. While the suspense and my eagerness to get the kelp lines in on schedule made the wait feel like eons, it's hard to say whether this period was short, long, or par for course. With the novelty of seaweed aquaculture in Massachusetts, there are few precedents for comparison. I’m happy that our project is an example that the next seaweed farmer can base their timeline on.
The final organization to review the applications was the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NOAA's concern was our projects potential impact on North Atlantic right whales – the world’s most endangered large whale species, with a depressingly scant population of ~350. Entanglement in fishing gear (ie. ropes) and collisions with vessels are the leading causes of right whale death; and the waters extending from Cape Cod throughout the Gulf of Maine are crucial feeding territories for these migrating animals.
NORTH ATLANTIC RIGHT WHALE (CALF'S TAIL FIN) by Susan Parmenter: susanparmenter.com
Fortunately, there are now rules designed to protect right whales and criteria that aquaculture projects like ours must meet to ensure that they don't interfere with the whale's feeding and migration zones. We expected to meet these criteria, as we're using approved hardware for our arrays, in shallow water (two sites in ~15ft and ~3ft respectively), away from whale hotspots. However, there are many other parts of Cape Cod's coast where kelp lines, like any fishing gear (maybe not the ropeless/pop-up lobster pots), may be problematic – or straight-up deadly to deploy.
The topic of right whales and fishing gear is pretty hot right now. In Nov. 2021, the Federal First Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated a seasonal ban on lobsta’ fishing in a 967 sq/mile stretch of ocean off the coast of Maine – an attempt to protect right whales from entanglement in lobstering gear. The ban's got the lobster fishing industry up in arms, and has led to a lawsuit before the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.: Maine Lobstermen’s Association v National Marine Fisheries Service.
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