Coastal Conversations Radio Program: Seaweed ecology: what makes a healthy intertidal zone?

a rocky beach covered in rockweed — Rockweed covers the mid-tide zone on a boulder beach at Schoodic Peninsula.

February 23, 2018 Coastal Conversations

Coastal Conversations show: February 23, 2018
WERU 89.9 in Blue Hill and 99.9 in Bangor
Host: Natalie Springuel, Maine Sea Grant

More and more people on the coast of Maine are focusing their attention on seaweed. People are harvesting it, eating it, selling it, growing it, even going to court over who owns it. But what exactly is seaweed and what is its role in a healthy coastal marine environment?

This is Natalie Springuel, from the University of Maine Sea Grant, host of Coastal Conversations. On our next program, we will explore the world of seaweed in the intertidal zone, how other species, including humans, interact with seaweed, and what seaweed can tell us about changes in the Gulf of Maine.

To help explore the ecological dimensions of seaweed, questions, we’ll talk with Jessie Muhlin of Maine Maritime Academy, Hannah Webber of Schoodic Institute and Amanda Klemmer, from the University of Maine.

So make a note to tune in Friday morning, February 23, from 10 to 11 AM, when this month’s Coastal Conversation is all about the marine ecology of seaweed in Maine.

Only on WERU community radio, 89.9 FM in Blue Hill and 99.9 in Bangor, and online at WERU.org.

Guests

Hannah Webber, Research and Education Projects Manager, at Schoodic Institute
Amanda J. Klemmer, Assistant Research Professor of Food-web Ecology, at University of Maine
Jessie Muhlin, Associate Professor of Marine Biology at Maine Maritime Academy

side-by-side images of a brown paper bag containing tea, and a shaker of seasoning flakes containing dulse, laver, and sea lettuce. — Some of the seaweed-based food products that Muhlin feeds her marine biology students at Maine Maritime Academy.

For More Information

Jessie Muhlin’s full interview (full interview is one hour long. A 30 minute segment was included in the show.)
The Algae Index: A Guide to Edible Seaweeds on the Maine Coast, Downeast Magazine
Maine Seafood Guide – Seaweed
Maine Seaweed Council
Maine Department of Marine Resources: Rockweed
Irish Seaweed Kitchen, Prannie Rhatigan
Seaweeds, edible, available, and sustainable, Ole Mouritsen

Listen to the show on WERU archives
More information about Coastal Conversations Radio Program

Maine Sea Grant