Harvesting Fuels from the Sea

WHOI biologist Scott Lindell (left) stands within two large yellow trusses—key infrastructure for a commercial-scale seaweed farm in Nantucket Sound—with colleagues Cliff Goudey, Dom Manganelli, and Zack Moscicki from C.A. Goudey and Associates, and WHOI research associate Dave Bailey on the Iselin pier in Woods Hole. The  trusses will support 30 long horizontal lines planted with sugar kelp, which could provide a multi-ton harvest in six months. The pilot project, funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, will help inform a $6 million WHOI research effort funded by the Department of Energy to advance the production of seaweed for biofuels. (Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)