The mission of the Alaska Mariculture Research and Training Center is to build partnerships and leverage resources to facilitate and coordinate training, research and dissemination across disciplines (e.g. biology, engineering, economics, marketing, food sciences, etc.) for better success of industry and community development and to improve mariculture management.

This Report is the culmination of three years’ collaborative effort of an Interagency Working Group and the Steering Committee, and reflects all facets of the U.S. farmed seaweed and seagrass restoration sectors.

The Alaska Food Strategy Task Force (AFSTF) has taken a systems approach in offering recommendations in seven focus areas to improve statewide food security.

The Maine Aquaculture Association (MAA) today announced the publication of a new report designed to help seaweed farmers build sustainable businesses.

Seaweed aquaculture, particularly kelp farming, is a popular topic as a potential solution for mitigating anthropogenic pollutants and enhancing coastal drawdown of carbon and nitrogen.

Seafood–including marine and freshwater fish, mollusks, and crustaceans–is a healthy food choice, but it can also contain contaminants. It is currently unclear how much seafood children or pregnant and lactating women are consuming, and what impact seafood consumption is having on children’s growth and development.

The report, “Lessons Learned Marketing Seaweed Products in the U.S.” captures the successful approaches existing seaweed producer and support organizations are employing to drive sales and growth of seaweed products in the U.S. The report builds on previous research on consumer perceptions and the use of “willingness to purchase” models with an intention to evolve from a theoretical measure of interest to one that documents real approaches in branding, product development and sales channels that has resulted in consumer sales.

There is state and federal support for developing Alaska mariculture industries, which could help increase sales of Alaska seaweed, and increase the capacity and capability of new and existing companies involved in purchasing and processing. This guide was developed to help individuals and companies better understand what’s involved as they decide whether to enter the seaweed processing industry, and to provide some industry standards in the manufacturing or processing of kelp.

This report is provided by the Alaska Mariculture Task Force to Governor Dunleavy as a requirement of the Administrative Order No. 297 that re-established the Task Force. State support, spanning multiple administrations, is critical to reach the goal of growing a $100 million per year mariculture industry in 20 years.

An increasing body of evidence shows that seaweeds, including kelp, can be used as a
tool to neutralize or remove excess nutrients and metals from the water column. Here we report
on a preliminary field assessment showing potential nutrient and carbon removal differences in
sugar kelp and ribbon kelp grown in common gardens.

Read about the four steps to organic certification.