The U.S. spends over a hundred million dollars a year importing seaweed from faraway places like Korea. Entrepreneurs have long hoped to build a local industry in the hospitable waters of the Salish Sea and use seaweed to make everything from food to fabric. 

But getting kelp farming off the ground requires a lot of trial and error -- and some farmers are running out of time and money.  

On today's episode, what will it take to get commercial seaweed off the ground (or the seafloor) in the Puget Sound region? And how much could it boost our local economy?

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Booming is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network. Our editor is Carol Smith. Our producers are Lucy Soucek and Alec Cowan. Our hosts are Joshua McNichols and Monica Nickelsburg.