Building a shipping route: Cost-reducing methods to transport stabilized kelp from Alaska to market

Alaska has enormous potential to support the growing domestic kelp farming industry thanks to its expansive coastline, government support, seafood industry infrastructure, skilled maritime workforce, and diversity of native, marketable kelp species. However, a massive barrier remains: an economic means of processing and transporting kelp to market.

The ongoing “Building a product bridge: cost-effective primary stabilization for transportation of Alaska kelp to market” Joint Innovation Project has already identified methods of primary stabilization using USDA approved ingredients in a variety of different brine solutions without the need for expensive and resource intensive freezing or cold storage. As we continue primary stabilization optimization, Atlantic Sea Farms (ASF) is looking to address the outstanding barrier of transporting kelp out of Alaska at an economically viable price. ASF proposes a Phase 2 of this project that directly targets methods for reducing the transport cost of harvested kelp to the lower 48.

It will build upon the Phase 1 primary stabilization trials and address how to prepare commercial quantities of kelp for shipment post-stabilization. This will be accomplished by 1) incorporating dewatering equipment into primary stabilization to reduce total water content 2) trialing a small-scale dehydrator more accessible to rural Alaskans than expensive commercial equipment, 3) determining how the different processing steps alter kelp composition and affect product end-use, and 4) delivering a public economic analysis outlining commercial potential for this process.

Learn more here.