Resources
Every document behind this site
Nothing on Spore Bank should have to be taken on trust. These are the sources, with publishers and dates, that the directory, the gap register, and the draft standard rest on.
Law and legal review
National Sea Grant Law Center · 2019-03-01
Inventory of State Laws Affecting Commercial Seaweed Aquaculture
The clearest legal review of how each state, including California, currently regulates commercial seaweed aquaculture.
Open documentCalifornia Department of Fish and Wildlife
Commercial Harvest of Kelp and Other Marine Algae
The wild-harvest kelp licensing rules. A harvesting regulation, not a seed or culture regulation.
Open documentNational Sea Grant Law Center
Seaweed Food Safety: Regulatory Overview
Where seaweed sits in food safety law, which shapes what a seed standard has to align with downstream.
Open document
Permitting
NOAA Fisheries · 2025-06-27
Guide to Leasing, Permitting, and Authorizing Commercial Aquaculture Operations off the California Coast
The current interagency guide to getting an aquaculture operation authorized off California.
Open documentCalifornia Department of Fish and Wildlife
CDFW Aquaculture Registration
Annual registration required of any facility growing plants or animals in marine, brackish, or fresh water. Registers the facility, not the seed.
Open document
State policy
California Ocean Protection Council · 2026-04-13
Draft Statewide Marine Aquaculture Action Plan
The first statewide plan positioned to address seed supply and certification. Read the aquaculture and seed sections directly.
Open document
Precedent from other programs
Interstate Shellfish Sanitation Conference and FDA · 2023-01-01
NSSP Guide for the Control of Molluscan Shellfish
The shellfish reference standard states adopt into law. The working model for what seaweed seed certification does not yet have.
Open documentMaine Department of Marine Resources
Maine DMR Biosecurity Permits
A working state biosecurity permit regime for organisms entering coastal waters and aquaculture facilities.
Open document
Genetics and provenance
Alaska Department of Fish and Game · 2022-08-01
Literature Review for Implementation of the 50-50 Rule for Cultivation of Seaweeds in Alaska
The most concrete genetics and provenance rule for cultivated seaweed on the West Coast.
Open document
Directories
UConn Extension, National Seaweed Hub · 2024-02-16
National Seaweed Nursery Directory
The annually updated national list of seaweed nurseries, and the right cross-check for any entry in this directory.
Open document
Research and hatchery technology
California Sea Grant · 2022-07-01
CLASH: A non-proprietary hatchery technology for seaweed production
The project building open hatchery technology so seed capacity is not locked behind proprietary systems.
Open documentCalifornia Sea Grant
Scientists create a seed bank to preserve bull kelp
How the bull kelp gametophyte bank was built and what it holds.
Open document