Alaska Mariculture Insights by Hatch Blue Consulting

A groundbreaking project that will map out the technological landscape of Alaska’s seaweed and oyster farming sectors, as well as their supply chains, has been launched this month.

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The Alaska Mariculture Insights project is being led by Southeast Conference Alaska (SEC) and Hatch Innovation Services (HIS), in collaboration with FS Media (The Fish Site’s in-house marketing agency). It aims to develop a comprehensive and continuously updated interactive website, which is due to launch at the Seagriculture conference in Ketchikan on 11-12 September. This will be used to identify relevant benchmarks, opportunities, challenges, technical insights, and industry data to help foster the state’s mariculture development.

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As Dan Lesh, deputy director at Southeast Conference, reflects: “While Alaska’s mariculture industry is currently at a small scale, the state is home to a $6 billion wild-harvest seafood industry and a globally recognized brand for seafood from cold, clean, rich waters. Mariculture is poised for rapid growth in Alaska, leveraging our seafood infrastructure and a political climate and local workforce committed to seeing this succeed.

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“The Alaska Mariculture Cluster coalition we have built puts equity and collaboration at the core of our strategy. We are working to de-risk this sector and drive private investment, both locally and internationally, to build a $200+ million industry in the next 15 years.”

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Global seaweed expertise

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The Alaska Mariculture Insights initiative follows Hatch Innovation Services’ pioneering seaweed study in 2022, which involved visits to over 100 farms and processing facilities across Asia's most significant seaweed-producing countries. With the seaweed industry's expansion from established geographies like Asia and emerging areas like Africa into regions like Europe, the Americas and Australia, HIS is expanding its geographical coverage.

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Drawing on extensive primary and secondary research, including interviews with key industry stakeholders - such as hatcheries, farmers, processors, and innovators - the Alaskan project promises to deliver an in-depth analysis of the current state of technology and techniques in seaweed and oyster production and catalyse innovation within the broader global food supply chain.

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The resulting website will present production insights by species, broken down into the different supply chain stages. It aims to benefit a wide range of stakeholders, including private investors, government entities looking to generate jobs through restorative aquaculture, and blue economy project specialists. This work will further advance the Alaska seaweed and oyster industries’ understanding of the new technological innovations, investment opportunities, and associated risks, mobilizing third-party resources for projects such as climate-resilient seed-stock hatchery programs, farming and processing equipment, storage, and infrastructure.

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Read more: https://thefishsite.com/articles/providing-fresh-insights-into-alaskas-seaweed-and-shellfish-sectors