The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration issues awards for impactful economic development initiatives. As part of the Build Back Better Regional Challenge, the Alaska Mariculture Cluster has won nearly $49 million in grants to support the local Alaska mariculture industry. This will enable shellfish and seaweed aquaculture to expand in the state. The Alaska […]
The impacts of predator loss and climate change are combining to devastate living reefs that have defined Alaskan kelp forests for centuries, according to new research published in Science. “We discovered that massive limestone reefs built by algae underpin the Aleutian Islands’ kelp forest ecosystem,” said Douglas Rasher, a senior research scientist at Bigelow Laboratory for […]
Bull kelp. Photo by Melissa Good. Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation (AFDF) and partners, including Alaska Sea Grant, are excited to announce a new training program for people interested in starting a seaweed farm. The program will be held in Kodiak, Ketchikan and Sitka in February 2020. Applications are due by December 20, 2019. The training […]
The largest commercial harvest of seaweed in Alaska is taking place this month. Blue Evolution, a California-based company that cultivates, harvests and distributes Alaska-grown seaweed, is expected to haul in up to 200,000 pounds from waters near Kodiak Island within the next two weeks. Previous harvests have been a fraction of that size, but, as […]