The state’s highest court ruled last month that permission from coastal landowners is needed for harvesting rockweed, a type of seaweed that’s critical to the industry. The Maine Seaweed Council, an industry advocacy group, has called the ruling “a disappointing setback” that will force harvesters to adjust. Rockweed typically makes up most of the state’s seaweed harvest, which was valued at a little less than $1 million at the docks last year. But the total economic impact seaweed has on the state is around $20 million per year, said Trey Angera, a member of the Maine Seaweed Council. Rockweed is also just one of several kinds of seaweed harvested in Maine.

Source: National Post May 05, 2019 12:33 UTC