Kelp Farming in PWS: a webinar series for "how to" and "what do I need to know?"

For folks who are considering kelp farming in PWS, we're offering a webinar series on "how to" and giving prospective kelp farmers an overview of the process. In four webinars, we'll cover permitting and licensing, kelp hatcheries and seed twine production, kelp farm design, and markets and processing of kelp.

You may register here for the next webinar, on December 3, 2020 at 10 a.m.

A summary of the four part series is available here.

Join one or all four of this webinar series to hear about the most current understanding and approaches to kelp farming, and what you need to put them into practice for a PWS kelp farm.

Collaboration among groups of independent kelp farmers will be a key to their success, according to the Alaska Mariculture Development Plan (2018). Issues such as seed hatcheries, product development, processing and marketing are better resolved when farmers work together. The sharing of knowledge about stock acquisition, knowledge of growing technology, processing capacity and marketing possibilities are essential to success. This webinar series is designed to share the advice of experts in kelp mariculture with prospective PWS kelp farmers about the different phases of kelp farming, and to encourage coordination across stakeholders.

There are several challenges facing prospective kelp farmers in PWS. There are no kelp farms in PWS right now, but at least 10 applications are in the permitting process with ADNR and ADFG. There are several possible processing facilities in the PWS region, but to date none have geared up or attempted to process kelp. The location of seed stock and procurement of seed twine is a significant challenge. The permitting and licensing process can be time consuming. Market development and transport to market are also challenges and essential to success. But coordination among independent kelp farmers to address these questions can help make kelp farming in PWS a viable venture.