Belfast Marine Institute's kelp farm weathers recent storms

Tue, 01/30/2024 - 5:00pm

The series of storms which recently lashed the Maine coast also affected the Belfast Marine Institute's kelp farm off City Park. BMI staff ventured out to check on the condition at the farm and found the storms had tangled two of the three 400-foot sugar kelp lines. One line had even separated from its anchor and mingled with its neighboring line, causing quite a tangle. 

The mess was untangled, which took some time, then dragged and reset, after first finding and reattaching its missing anchor. Eventually all three lines were moved back to their original position. No gear had been lost, but some of the tangled kelp lines had been scraped clean of growth. A visual check of the third undamaged line, showed good kelp growth, so still in business!