California Sea Grant College Program

Undaria pinnatifida is an edible brown kelp cultured off the coasts of Korea, China and Japan. While its proliferation is encouraged and indeed nutured in these places, in others "wakame" is seen as a terrible nuisance species, a threat to the health of native kelps and therefore the focus of containment and eradication efforts. California is one place where the kelp's presence is unwanted.