Schooled in Seaweed from the Godfather of Cultivation on Vancouver Island

In the spring of 2019 Mike Williamson, Tony Ethier and Bill Collins headed to the hamlet of Bamfield on Vancouver Island’s to meet with the experts of seaweed. The goal was to become educated in the practice of cultivating seaweed. The instructor was Dr. Louis Druehl, a principle in Canadian Kelp Resources Inc. Dr. Druehl has been growing and studying kelp for more than four decades.

The venue was the renown

(BMSC) which is a consortium of Western Canadian Universities. Students from across the globe as well as from the local Vancouver Island schools spend time there in this most natural of settings. Nothing replaces the hands-on learning that the BMSC offers. In addition to our being there to better understand the science of growing kelp, Cascadia was there to seek partnerships in science that will make our venture stronger.

While it is quite true that seaweed is naturally ubiquitous along the coast of Vancouver Island. It is quite another challenge to mimic mother nature in a farm setting. Important considerations such as the production biology of kelp, kelp farm infrastructure as well as the logistics of production are all keys to success. Cascadia Seaweed is fortunate to have founders that have many decades in marine science and technology. This includes our own Dr. Stephen Cross who has been farming for 15 years. We are committed to continuous improvement and are always eager to learn from the best.

The classrooms at the BMSC are excellent and promote learning the real highlight of the visit was being on the water. The team visited Dr. Druehl’s seaweed farm in Delightful Cove not too far from his home.