While better known for its prolific salmon runs and historic fishing fleet, Cordova is now also becoming a hub of innovation in mariculture, with seaweed at the centre of a growing green economy.
South Korea’s olive flounder farming sector may have failed to reach the dizzy heights predicted by industry experts 10 years ago, but there are signs that it could yet deliver on its previous promise.
Thea Thomas and her partner Cale Hershcleb have blazed a trail for seaweed farming in Prince William Sound, having been operational for four seasons as the Royal Ocean Kelp Co.
Combining scientific curiosity and practical grit, Olivia Duner and Jonny Antoni - with the support of several friends - set up Sea Quester Farms in 2022 in a bid to establish a regenerative aquaculture operation in Bear Creek, near Juneau.
Applications are open for GreenWave’s Kelp CoLab, a new programme designed to develop beauty and personal care products that contain farmed kelp, in a bid to boost market demand and strengthen the seaweed industry.
Working with one of North America’s largest seaweed processors on one side, and a range of Alaska’s fledgling seaweed farmers on the other, Mothers of Millions is ensuring that growers have a market, while processors have a reliable supply.
After 12 months in which a number of the West’s flagship indoor shrimp farms have been forced to shut down, two of the more promising remaining companies explain how they have not only survived the turmoil, but also have plans to expand.
The ocean already holds trillions of tonnes of carbon dioxide, and Vycarb, led by a scientist who swapped academia for entrepreneurship, wants to leverage that storage for industrial applications.
Spanning nearly all the continents, the International Biology and Macroalgae Center (IBMC) hopes to use knowledge sharing between key seaweed producers to supercharge this ocean crop and make it a viable commodity on the global market.
