DOWN EAST NOTES

America's only commercial kelp farm. Dobbins and Olson run what is thought to be America's only commercial kelp farm. Inspired by mega-aquaculture sites in Asia and a $7 billion global seaweed industry, the two entrepreneurs started cultivating kelp [in Falmouth] last year and have begun marketing it as an exotic frozen vegetable. . . The company, Ocean Approved, sold the first year's crop to half a dozen Whole Foods Markets and other high-end natural food stores in Boston, Los Angeles and Portland, where it goes for up to $4.60 for 4 ounces. Mixed into a coleslaw, the taste is tangy and crunchy -- less pungent than dried seaweed. There is no fishy flavor. 

Maine Public Broadcasting - Maine employers will have to pay 65 percent more for unemployment insurance next year in order to keep the state's unemployment trust fund solvent. 

Boston Globe - The Portland Charter Commission says Maine's largest city should have a full-time, popularly elected mayor with limited powers. The commission also recommended the mayor be limited to two consecutive, four-year terms. . . City voters are expected to vote on proposed charter changes next November.

Portland Press Herald - Researchers at the University of North Carolina and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts found that a few sea creatures, including lobsters, appeared to grow shells faster as the water in their laboratory tanks absorbed carbon dioxide and became more acidic. . . While corals, clams, snails, oysters, scallops and other organisms showed signs of dissolving in the acidic water, lobsters, shrimp and crabs built shells quicker. The reasons aren't entirely understood, but lobsters may somehow convert the dissolved carbon from the atmosphere into a form they can use to build new shells, the researchers wrote.