PROJECT

Empowering coastal Alaska by building local capacity for kelp farming and evaluating best practices for harvesting seed stock.

GOAL

The goals of this project are to increase capacity in Prince William Sound for seaweed hatchery services and identify best practices for farmers when collecting seed stock. 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Every year, commercial farmers are required to re-collect seed stock (the fertile tissue on wild seaweed) and bring it to a hatchery for grow-out onto lines that will be out-planted onto the farm after 6-8 weeks. This project will determine how farmer choices (timing and location) during seed stock collection affect hatchery outcomes (growth, quality). This project will be completed by the fall of 2024.

METHOD

We will collect seaweed from different tidal zones and times of year. From those samples, we will look for fertile tissue and cause it to release spores. We will compare the number of spores released and then grow those spores to later stages. A subset of these will be outplanted onto the Native Village of Eyak's research farm in Sheep Bay.

If you have questions about this work, contact Alysha Cypher at acypher@pwssc.org.