Tag Archives: invasive seaweed
Invasive seaweed threatens Gulf of Maine
A team of University of New Hampshire researchers working on Appledore Island at the Isles of Shoals and at off-shore sites in southern York County and Seacoast New Hampshire recently published a study that reaches some unsettling conclusions. Essentially, the ocean floor in the Seacoast is seeing a marked decline in the often tall, leafy native kelp populations and an inundation of short, shrub-like invasive seaweed. Key among those invasives is the short, red fiber-like seaweed Dasysiphnia japonica, a transplant from Japan that is taking over the ocean floor in this region – covering as much as 90 percent of some areas. We were very surprised by what we saw,” said Jennifer Dijkstra, research assistant professor in the Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping at UNH and the lead author of the study. click here to read the story 09:20
Hawaii is raising mass quantities of a native sea urchin to battle an invasive seaweed that has smothered coral reefs in Kaneohe Bay.
The state Division of Aquatic Resources has been spawning and growing thousands of Hawaiian collector urchins at the Anuenue Fisheries Research Center on Sand Island. The urchins are the newest weapon against fast-growing “smothering seaweed,” which overtook Kaneohe Bay. “They were being tested for years before then, but we needed to mass-produce them to really make a difference on the reef,” said Jono Blodgett, an aquatic invasive species program leader with the state. more@hawaiinewsnow
