Kelp Takes Center Stage at Virtual Seafood Summit How can university dining halls help support a sustainable local seafood industry, and what does seaweed have to do with it? Well, here's a hint: The New York Times recently featured kelp as "the climate-friendly vegetable you ought to eat." UMass Dartmouth Dining Services on Feb. 4 will host a virtual summit that looks at the nexus between local institutions and underutilized seafood species -- including the ubiquitous seaweed known as kelp. Speakers will talk about leveraging institutions to support local seafood producers through building supply chains for farmed kelp and underutilized species, according to a media release. They will share how a team of colleges and supply chain partners tackled procurement issues with help from a 2018 New England Food Vision Prize from the Henry P. Kendall Foundation. They will also discuss how they worked to bring underutilized species into community and university dining programs.