Wells Reserve Inspires Maine Business

When attorney Krista Rosen first visited Maine’s Wells Reserve with her young children, she wasn’t looking for a business idea. But a decade of engagement with the Reserve led her to pursue one of the most overlooked economic opportunities in U.S. aquaculture: seaweed.

The global commercial seaweed market is projected to surpass $85 billion in 2026, with kelp commanding value across multiple high-growth sectors: it’s a food ingredient, a skincare component, and a raw material for pharmaceutical applications. Yet despite this surging market, nearly 95% of seaweed consumed in the United States is imported, with untraceable origins.

Rosen wondered why her home state wasn’t growing more kelp, when the Gulf of Maine’s cold, clean waters and long stretch of coastline were perfect for it. This eventually led to her founding Cold Current Kelp and, later, Atlantic BlueBio, two Maine companies focused on developing high-value, non-food uses of kelp. And her path to becoming a seaweed entrepreneur ran right through the Wells Reserve.

Initially, the Reserve was a place for her family to visit, where her children could explore, and she could unwind. “When I first showed up at the Reserve with lunches and toddlers in tow,” Rosen recalls. “I didn’t think much about the importance of its mission at first.”

Rosen later joined the board of the Laudholm Trust, which focuses on fundraising and community building at the Reserve, and through board service, lab visits, and exposure to research happening at the Reserve, she began to see its science programs and projects as essential work.

“I had been living in New York City for years,” she says. “Environmental science wasn’t at the top of my mind in the beginning. But having the Reserve as a consistent presence in my life for the past ten years has changed how I see everything.”

One day, while walking with marine biologist Inga Potter, Krista learned about the numerous uses for kelp, including bioplastics, nutraceuticals, and skincare. This conversation led to a business idea to sustainably raise and process kelp for skincare products on the Maine coast. They saw a market advantage over imported kelp, which is often dried and rehydrated with chemicals and dyes. Kelp from Maine’s cold, clean coastal waters could go directly to market. That conversation eventually became Cold Current Kelp, whose research was funded by a NOAA Saltonstall-Kennedy grant that Rosen heard about through her work with the Reserve. This year, Rosen launched Atlantic BlueBio, which plans to build a pilot‑scale seaweed biorefinery in Maine.

Cold Current Kelp is a member of 1% For the Planet and donates to the Trust as part of that. “The Reserve has been a great resource for us as we navigate coastal policy and access grant funding,” says Rosen. “Having a place that connects research, technical guidance, and on‑the‑ground experience is incredibly valuable for working in coastal communities.”