Kristen Smith, co-founder of Mothers of Millions, has a solid track record of innovation – converting fishing vessels into a fleet of flexible, mobile kelp hatching, harvesting, and processing systems designed to meet the unpredictable realities of Alaska’s waters and markets. And this year their evolution is continuing apace.
A key part of the Mothers’ strategy in 2025 relates to their new partnership with Cascadia Seaweed, a leading producer of biostimulants and other kelp-based products, which is headquartered in British Columbia.
“Our setup this year is a little bit different,” Smith explains. “This [harvesting] round, we’re doing mostly for Cascadia, and their request was to have it in IBC totes and truckable. Last year, we had a 40-foot frozen container. This time, we modified things to accommodate a different style.”
“It lets me offload in multiple harbours without extra handling. The totes built our processing concept for the year. Next year, it’ll be something else,” she adds.
The relationship with Cascadia has the potential to benefit players right along the Pacific Northwest’s seaweed value chain: Cascadia needs to source a steady supply of quality seaweed; Alaska’s remote, relatively small-scale seaweed farmers – like WildBlue Mariculture, Noble Ocean Farms and Royal Ocean Kelp Co – are looking for access to market; and the Mothers are uniquely well placed to join the dots.
“We didn’t want to just be another middleman,” Smith emphasises. “We wanted to create a supportive infrastructure for farmers, where their work is valued and they have a clear path to market.”
For the spring 2025 harvest season, Mothers of Millions provided administrative and financial support for farmers navigating the organic-certification process.
The Mothers also coordinate logistics across a challenging landscape, with remote farms, extreme weather, and limited processing infrastructure.
“That’s why the Cascadia partnership is so important,” Smith says. “They’ve committed to buying the product, even when it’s a little messy. That gives us breathing room to build something better.”
Ongoing innovations
Smith’s key innovations in 2025 have involved experimenting with different ways to process the kelp from the growing number of producers who have been springing up in Southeast Alaska’s waterways.
“We built our own shredder,” Smith explains. “I can’t pay $20,000 for one of these at the rate we’re getting paid to participate. But I can build it.”
The changes aren’t just about equipment – they’re also about rethinking the entire processing flow. Last year’s frozen-container model worked well for certain types of kelp, but this year’s fragile sugar kelp demanded a gentler approach.
“Your fingers touching the line pulls it off the line,” Smith says. “So we’re doing fun modifications. Every day we start with our best guess, and by the end of the day we’ve modified that best guess to try something else.”
Her shredder design is another point of pride, both for its performance and for what it represents.
“We wanted a super compact design so we didn’t need the loading height or discharge height we had before,” she says. “With the hydraulics, I can run it at full speed without bogging down. For a single tote at a time, it’s ideal – about 3,000 pounds an hour. For larger scale, I’d run a series of them.”
Plans to expand
Smith is aware of the need to stay agile and match the evolution – and demands – of the seaweed sector. As a result she is already working on new options, with plans revolving around the Valkyrie, a fishing vessel she purchased specifically with kelp processing in mind.
“It was originally a dragger, so it has what I think will be the ultimate processing setup,” she says, describing a ramp that reaches below the waterline for gentle loading, a compact shredder feeding directly into fish holds and ergonomics that spare crew the backbreaking angles of traditional gear.
“It would change the entire look of what we have going on on the back deck. Much cleaner. Much more seamless,” she adds.
The Mothers’ long-term goal is stabilisation of the harvested kelp at sea – whether by freezing, salting, or liquid preservation – and Smith already maintains her holds at 32-35 °F, which is cool enough to keep kelp in top condition for transport.
“If you’re freezing, you’re always limited to your on-deck capacity,” she explains. “Liquid stabilisation in the hold is a major step up.”
She’s also looking to tap into higher value markets, inspiring her to gain new certifications.
“We’re organically certified to dry, freeze, shred, ferment – whatever’s needed,” Smith says.
That allows her to use the vessel’s DEC-approved kitchen for small-scale, premium products.
“Our more expensive days are getting to and from [kelp farms]. So if we’ve got available labour, it’s nice to have value-added projects we can work on,” she reflects.
Smith’s clearly open to innovation and experimentation and is also comfortable to operate out of most places in the state – thanks to experience gained in her fishing career.
“We’ve worked out of most harbours of consequence in Alaska,” she says. “When you’ve done craning operations in all those ports, you understand the logistics of what you might encounter when you pull in.”
For now, she needs to tread the fine line between immediate harvest demands and the long-term vision of a streamlined, mobile, high-capacity processing operation.
“It’s all trial and error,” Smith admits, “but I think it’s a useful piece of the industry. It’s fun to be able to show up and help someone harvest a farm that looks like a daunting task, and by the end of the day you’ve got 15,000 pounds [of kelp] stabilised and ready to go.”
With seaweed still a nascent industry in Alaska, it’s fortunate for the farmers that Mothers of Millions are willing to be both immensely mobile and constantly adaptable.
“The more we do it, the more we feel like we’re on the right track. The setup will look different next year, because the needs will be different. And that’s the point,” Smith concludes.
