IODINE IN MARINE FLORA AND FAUNA 67 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 39b 



In Mexico, a concession has been granted for the purpose of collecting and 

 utilising the kelp found floating along the western shores, and there seems possi- 

 bility of ^commercial development here also (^). 



Much of the information with regard to the possibilities of the kelp industry- 

 is to be found in the U. S. Senate Document, No. 190 (62nd Congress, 2nd Session, 

 1912), on "The Fertilizer Resources of the United States." 



In this the conclusion is reached (p. 44) that the U.S. Pacific kelps could if 

 necessary furnish per year over six million tons of potassium chloride, at present 

 prices worth over $240,000,000, and over 19,000 tons of iodine, worth over $95,000,- 

 000. One-sixth of these quantities could with ease be obtained, and even this 

 would be far in excess of present requirements. This could be obtained, if the kelp 

 were cut scientifically, without annual diminution of the size of the kelp beds. 

 The cost of production was estimated to be covered by the value of the iodine and , 

 other bye-products, but this seems to me undoubtedly too low an estimate, since 

 any competition would immediately lower the price of iodine (and also of potash) . 



Few of the algse found along the Pacific coast can be utilized on account or 

 the cost of collection. Of the shore forms Fucus evanescens and Fucus furcatus^ 

 are found at low tide covering rocks everywhere, but they could only be collected 

 by hand labour. Three forms of giant kelp seem particulary suitable. Far south 

 Macrocystis fyrifera and Pelagophycus porra are found in quantity; further north 

 the latter disappears, and yet f urthei north, in the Puget Sound region, the principal 

 kelp is Nereocystis littkeana (bladder-kelp or bull-kelp). Each of these kelps grows 

 in deep water, and consists of a large surface of leaves, supported by a bladder or 

 float, which is attached by a thick stipe 40 or more feet in length to a spreading 

 "holdfast" attached to rocks several fathoms below low water mark. 



Of the three types mentioned, only Nereocystis will probably be found of 

 importance economically along the Canadian Pacific coast. This plant is an 

 annual, and could, according to Rigg {^), be harvested annually after the middle 

 of July without diminution of quantity. It is found in large groves throughout 

 the Puget Sound region. Specimens from this region contain 30 per cent, potas- 

 sium chloride and 0.16 per cent, iodine. My iodine analyses for Nereocystis from 

 the Nanaimo district gave similar figures, so that in all probability the potassium 

 values are also of the same order. 



The methods of harvesting this kelp, and of extracting fiom it its commercial 

 products, are still in the experimental stage, although there seems no reason to- 

 doubt that the problems involved can be satisfactorily solved. 



During my stay at Nanaimo last summer, I was only able to observe the kelp 

 beds in this district for a distance of eight or ten miles on each side of Nanaimo 

 itself. Plants of Nereocystis in greater or less quantity are to be seen floating 

 wherever there is a ridge or rock running out a few feet below the sea surface. 

 There are three fairly large beds in the area I inspected. One, in False Narrows, 

 about eight miles south-east of Nanaimo, fills the space between Gabriola and 

 Mudge Islands (necessitating careful navigation of the passage). It is from one 

 and one-half to two miles long, and varies from 100 to 200 yards in width. A 



* ibid., 5, 338. 



^ U. S. Senate Document, No. 190, 1912, p. 43. 



396—51 



