Seaweed farming has huge potential, but convincing communities to embrace it can be an uphill battle. Two phycologists set out to change that by creating the California Seaweed Festival, an annual event where people can explore everything seaweed, from food and cosmetics to robotics and kelp forest restoration. Now in its seventh year, the Festival is helping build public support for seaweed aquaculture and shifting attitudes toward seaweed products, ocean ecology, and climate change.
Abstract: Environmental changes are affecting ecological systems, natural resource availability, and human production systems. Within this context, scientists and entrepreneurs are developing new approaches to production and resource use, including innovations in energy, clothing, packaging, food, and other sectors. As part of the effort to address these pressing issues, two phycologists created the California Seaweed Festival (CSF), an annual community outreach program entering its seventh year. The Festival promotes education about various aspects of macroalgae in a festive, informal, and experiential-learning environment. We document the evolution of this program over time, including changes in the Festival’s structure and funding model made to expand points of entry and levels of engagement. The Festival features representatives from the seaweed aquaculture industry and collaborating organizations showcasing their applications in food, drink, cosmetics, visual and performing arts, robotics, chemistry and materials, ecology, and kelp forest restoration. This broad program is motivated by ecological challenges and the challenges that the seaweed aquaculture industry has faced in securing social license to operate and in developing both the consumer- and producer-side of the market economy. To demonstrate how the Festival has worked to address those constraints, this case study includes results from interviews conducted with aquaculture industry professionals in 2025 and 2026, and a survey of attendees conducted at the 2025 Festival. Industry interviews indicate that community educational events, of which the Festival is a prime example, engage local residents and the public at large to foster public acceptance of aquaculture operations and consumer demand for seaweed products. The survey results (n=121) reveal the Festival’s positive impact on participants’ attitudes and future behaviors toward seaweed food products, food packaging, ocean ecology, and climate change. In doing so, the Festival plays an important role in addressing both the environmental and social challenges facing the seaweed aquaculture industry in California.
Authors: Augyte, S.; Hernandez, P. A.; Cuevas-Uribe, R.; Appelrouth, S. A.; Ainsworth, A.; Dudgeon, S. R.; Kübler , J. E.
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