Rhode Island’s Ocean and Coastal Magazine

Fall/Winter 2022

In this issue, we focus on stories that look toward a better future.

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Letter From the Editor

FOCUS ON THE FUTURE

“I HAVE TOTAL FAITH”

Those are the words of Casey Emmett, kelp processor, in our cover story, talking about the potential of kelp to finally take off as a crop and a business enterprise. It’s an ingredient that has been around for millennia but is still somehow waiting for its moment here in the U.S. Then, proponents believe, it will unleash all the nascent nutritional and environmental benefits that a locally grown, zero-input, carbon-absorbing, protein-rich crop can.

Right whales are another ancient species we have only recently begun to appreciate for their role in the ocean ecosystem. Despite conflicting views over new regulations and technologies designed to protect them, everyone from fishermen to regulators to researchers is hopeful they can be saved. “They have as much of a right to exist as any of us,” says University of Rhode Island scientist Bob Kenney. The right to public shoreline access in Rhode Island is enshrined in the state’s Constitution, but designating access sites in Providence has lagged behind other areas. Advocates fought for recognition of the Public Street right-of-way this past summer, but their plans for the site are just beginning. These and other stories in this issue highlight the work of many to right wrongs, rebuild, raise up others, and otherwise plan for a better future. Enjoy!

Correction: The apprenticeships mentioned in the story “Wampum Craft: The Power of a Purple Shell” in the Spring 2021 issue were supported by the Southern New England Apprenticeship Program in traditional arts with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. The affiliated organizations are the Connecticut Historical Society and the Mass Cultural Council, and, in Rhode Island, the partnership is directed by Winifred Lambrecht, formerly at the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts and currently faculty at the Rhode Island School of Design.

—Monica Allard Cox, Editor