Marine ecosystems suffer from nutrient pollution, as most of our waste tends to get dumped in the sea. This kind of pollution can become very deadly, as high levels of nutrients foster algal blooms which destroy water quality and deplete its oxygen — in short, they kill everything else around them.
New research at the University of California Santa Barbara suggests that aquaculture could help prevent such issues in the future. A study proposes seaweed farms as a possible solution, especially for nitrogen and phosphorus. Such farms would be able to scrub large amounts of nutrients even after they’ve made their way into the ocean at relatively low costs.