Forests or Deserts Class | BackyardRegeneration.com | Permaculture Classes | Fungi | Composting | Consulting
Iterations are fine, we don't have to be perfect
Iterations are fine, we don't have to be perfect
Canberra Permaculture - My Blog - Wild Cheesemaking - Aquaponics - Korean Natural Farming
Eon MacNeill wrote:Does anyone know where to source marine plants/seaweed? I have been establishing a garden right next to a coast here, its not ocean its more of an inland sea. It would be very cool to try to extend things out over the short stretch of rocky/sandy shore (5-10 feet) and into the water! Erosion can be an issue so I imagine if kelp could be encouraged it would work to break up wave action and protect the shoreline plantings. I know that many types of shellfish are supposed to be able to be grown and harvested right off of docks on lines, and they supposedly filter and improve the water rather than be detrimental in any way, even at higher concentrations.
Is this marine permaculture still in its infancy too much to be able to buy/source these types of things? Obviously being mindful of potentially invasive species would be important too, but I don’t even have a clue about what the basic requirements are for growing this stuff. How are these plants seeded? What conditions do they require... is there a “zone” system for marine plants? I know that the area I’m in has fish species from a couple of different “zones”.
Eon MacNeill wrote:Does anyone know where to source marine plants/seaweed? I have been establishing a garden right next to a coast here, its not ocean its more of an inland sea. It would be very cool to try to extend things out over the short stretch of rocky/sandy shore (5-10 feet) and into the water! Erosion can be an issue so I imagine if kelp could be encouraged it would work to break up wave action and protect the shoreline plantings. I know that many types of shellfish are supposed to be able to be grown and harvested right off of docks on lines, and they supposedly filter and improve the water rather than be detrimental in any way, even at higher concentrations.
Is this marine permaculture still in its infancy too much to be able to buy/source these types of things? Obviously being mindful of potentially invasive species would be important too, but I don’t even have a clue about what the basic requirements are for growing this stuff. How are these plants seeded? What conditions do they require... is there a “zone” system for marine plants? I know that the area I’m in has fish species from a couple of different “zones”.
Visit Redhawk's soil series: https://permies.com/wiki/redhawk-soil
How permies.com works: https://permies.com/wiki/34193/permies-works-links-threads
Jay Angler wrote:@Eon MacNeill - I know I saw an interview with a poly-culture ocean farmer and my brain believes he was Nova Scotian. I suggest you try searching and if NS, doesn't work, it might have been the New Brunswick side of the Bay of Fundy. If you can track it down, maybe add the link here? It sounds as if he's doing things really responsibly.
To some degree based on reading the info from Drawdown (book mentioned by the OP - well worth a read), it a situation of "if you build it, the local flora and fauna will come and populate it. Sidney, BC put an extensive "reef ball" installation under a wharf they built. Volunteer divers went down at regular intervals to take census and it was pretty impressive how quickly life grew on it. It's now a really popular place to go crabbing when the weather's nice and the season is open.
@Mihai Ilie - that was an interesting article you linked to about Caulerpa taxifolia. I particularly noted the paragraph: "Beds of the algae typically inhabit polluted, nutrient-rich areas such as sewage outfalls,[5] explaining its spread among port cities in the Mediterranean Sea. This actually reduces the pollution in those areas, as the caulerpa consumes it: In an eight-year study of Caulerpa beds in the French Bay of Menton by the European Oceanographic Observatory of Monaco (based within the Museum of Monaco[6]), it was found that the alga reduced pollution and aided in the recovery of native Posidonia seagrass.[7]"
Similar has been said about the Purple Loosestrife invasion in Ontario (Canada) wetlands. When farmland surrounding a wetland moves to organic or better practices and runoff into the wetland is less polluted with artificial fertilizers, the Purple Loosestrife declines. I've also heard the same about a water plant invasion in Africa but I can't recall the details. The issue is less the invading plant, and more human pollution that needs to be filtered and sequestered through artificial wetlands, edge plants, and possibly fast growing trees, before it even gets to the lake or ocean!
Much of human made pollution, such as phosphates from laundry detergent or nitrogen from urine, is like candy to growies. So long as we position sources of "waste resources" so that there are growies to benefit, we solve the problem at source. Another example I've read about may also have been in the book Drawdown. Someone built floating frames in a highly polluted lake in China and grew flowers on it and the improvement in the water quality was incredible. The sales of the flowers, covered much of the original costs if I recall, or at least the labor costs, making it a totally win-win solution.