Research Behind Our Mission
We have been pleased to be part of multiple research projects and other collaborations to increase our understanding of how seaweed cultivation can enhance the health of our oceans and communities:
With support from two grants from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture of the US Department of Agriculture, Blue Dot is working on a project focused on the development and testing of marine cable made from recycled carbon fiber (rCF) for seaweed cultivation, in partnership with the Composites Recycling Technology Center in Port Angeles. rCF comes from the huge waste streams generated in wind turbine and aircraft manufacturing that would otherwise end in landfills. Compared to traditional line, rCF cable’s advantages include the absence of microplastics being shed into the water and avoidance of marine mammal entanglement risk. The data we have from our farm demonstrates significantly greater seaweed yield per acre through increased planting density.
Joth Davis, Blue Dot principal and co-founder, served as co-lead with the Puget Sound Restoration Fund on a four-year project, funded by the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, to assess the effect of growing sugar kelp on pH, dissolved inorganic carbon and other carbonate chemistry in seawater circulating through our farm. Other project partners included the University of Washington, NOAA, Pacific Northwest Marine Laboratory, the Washington Department of Natural Resources and Washington Sea Grant. The project was entitled “Cultivating Seaweeds to Mitigate Ocean Acidification and Generate Habitat, Fertilizer, Food and Fuel.”
With support from the US Navy, Blue Dot is collaborating with NOAA scientists on land-based research, at NOAA’s Manchester Research Station, on carbon uptake by kelp. Joth Davis (co-principal investigator) is working with project biologists to supply kelp and advice on design and execution of invertebrate bioassay assessments
Blue Dot is collaborating with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in a two-year US Department of Energy ARPA - E project to model the bioextraction of nitrogen and other nutrients in our farmed sugar kelp, nutrients which are subsequently removed at harvest. For example, our 2020 harvest in April, 2020 removed over a ton of carbon along with nitrogen that contributes to harmful algal blooms in North Hood Canal. Our role (Joth Davis, as co-principal investigator) on this project is to cultivate high density crops of kelp and intensively sample and monitor nutrients and other hydrographic variables.
We are supporting Dr. Fernando Resende, an Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Texas, who is conducting innovative research on the direct conversion of kelp biomass to ethanol for a project, funded by the National Sea Grant Program, entitled “Hydrothermal Conversion of Sugar Kelp into Hydrocarbons.”
Joth Davis is assisting Professor Eli Wheat of the University of Washington and Meg Chadsey (Washington Sea Grant) in a project to investigate the use of sugar kelp for organic soil amendments. Harvesting kelp for use as compost in land-based agricultural systems has the potential to transfer carbon from the ocean, where it contributes to acidification, to the land, where it is beneficial as a nutrient-rich organic soil amendment. The project, entitled “Greener Pastures on our Side of the Water: On Kelp, Carbon and the Power of Grass,” also includes a kelp farming training module to help university students learn about seaweed aquaculture and the connection to land-based organic farming.
We are providing sugar kelp to Dr. Ron Johnson, of NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center, who is investigating the use of sugar kelp in the development of fish feeds.
We are a partner (Joth Davis, co-principal investigator) in a two-year project, in collaboration with Washington Sea Grant, the Puget Sound Restoration Fund and NOAA, to provide information and training on seaweed farming to the public, with a particular focus on veterans in a program entitled “Seaweed Lines of Change: Laying the Groundwork to Advance the Practice of Sustainable Seaweed Farming in the Pacific Northwest.”
Joth Davis and Jon Kroman, along with Travis Bettinson, our consulting food scientist, are participating the National Sea Grant Seaweed Hub. This project involves a consortium of seaweed growers, processors and food scientists who are meeting over the next 2-3 years to develop a national strategy for the development of profitable marine agronomy based on cultivating seaweeds for food and other high value products.
Joth Davis and Jon Kroman, are actively working with Dr. Tom Mumford, of Marine Agronomics, an Instructor at the University of Washington and formerly with the Washington Department of Natural Resources, to advance research focusing on developing positive social license for marine agronomy, particularly in the Salish Sea. They are part of a project team, led by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, that has applied for NOAA funding to explore the economic implications of having or lacking social license.