Sugar Kelp
Saccharina latissima

Cascadia Seaweed
This brownish-yellow seaweed looks like lasagne noodles. It is one of the many species of kelp cultivated around the world.
Good to Know . . .

Cascadia Seaweed
Farmers grow kelp seedlings in nurseries. The farmers cut pieces from full-grown kelp to get spores. The spores are then grown in tanks to produce kelp seedlings.

Cascadia Seaweed
Seedlings are suspended on floating lines in the ocean. This network of lines creates a kelp farm.
A Strange Lifecycle
Kelp has a two-part lifecycle: a microscopic stage, and a large plant-like stage. The plant-like kelp produces spores that grow into tiny gametophytes. These miniature growths release sperm and eggs into the water. After fertilization, the plant-like kelp starts growing, and the cycle begins again.

© Pingyang/Dreamstime
Kelp sheds as it grows. The pieces it sheds sink into the deep ocean, taking with them any carbon captured through photosynthesis. That’s how seaweed farming helps to fight climate change.