Open ocean seaweed farming in the Pacific

"A new prototype of a small, solar-powered robotic vessel recently started sailing in the Pacific Ocean, pulling an underwater rack filled with seaweed. The startup developing the technology, called Phykos, says each platform holding the fast-growing kelp may be able to capture as much CO2 as 250 trees — and though the approach still needs to be proven, the company thinks that it could be a viable way to quickly sequester carbon by sinking the seaweed to the ocean floor . . . Seaweed along coastlines already captures an estimated 173 million metric tons of CO2 each year as it grows; some of that seaweed eventually sinks, trapping the carbon at the bottom of the ocean. Phykos wants to replicate the same process in the open ocean, where kelp doesn’t grow, to vastly increase seaweed’s global level of carbon sequestration . . . [The company] believes that the carbon in the seaweed will be locked away for 1,000 years (this is how long scientists have determined it stays in seaweed that naturally sinks)."