General Info

The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s Natural Resources Department and the Town of Mashpee’s Natural Resources Department are interested in reducing excess nutrients in their coastal embayments, which kelp aquaculture could encourage. WHOI Sea Grant worked with officials from Mashpee to select a site. November 16, 2023, a dinosaur-shaped lunch box kept the seaweed cool during its journey from the lab to the field.

Buddy Pocknett (right), Sagamore (or sub-chief) of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, met Hutchinson and Reitsma in the field on November 16, 2023 to help with the outplanting.

Mashpee Shellfish Constable Chris Avis (right) helped Rachel Hutchinson (left) prepare the seaweed for outplanting November 16, 2023.

The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s Natural Resources Department and the Town of Mashpee’s Natural Resources Department are interested in reducing excess nutrients in their coastal embayments, which kelp aquaculture could encourage. WHOI Sea Grant worked with officials from Mashpee to select a site. November 16, 2023, a dinosaur-shaped lunch box kept the seaweed cool during its journey from the lab to the field.

The kelp-laden twine wrapped around the rope like candy cane stripes. About 60 feet of rope was planted at each site.

Rachel Hutchinson (front) fit the blue rope through the pipe holding the kelp to unspool the kelp-laden twine so it wrapped around the rope, while Josh Reitsma (back) affixed the twine to the rope so it wouldn’t wash away.

Many of the tools used to set up this experiment can be found at a local hardware store: rope, electrical tape, twine, and a sharp knife. Josh Reitsma unwound several yards of rope standing in cold water at a Yarmouth embayment November 9, 2023.

On November 9, 2023, Research Assistant Hadley Kerr from Scott Lindell’s lab at WHOI (left) prepared several spools for Rachel Hutchinson (right) to take to Yarmouth.

WHOI scientists in Scott Lindell’s lab grow different species of kelp for selective breeding experiments. The sugar kelp selected for the WHOI Sea Grant project is a species native to Cape Cod. Kelp spores were brushed onto twine, spooled around a PVC pipe, and incubated in a tank for about a month until the kelp was large enough to outplant.

Kelp in Chatham, March 3, 2024 (PC Rachel Hutchinson)