For the second year in a row, a coalition of mariculture interests has hired the McKinley Research Group and the Pacific Shellfish Institute to compile data and research about the state of Alaska’s mariculture industry.
On the kelp side, the report estimates 240,000 pounds of seaweed were harvested in Alaska last year. That’s 85,000 pounds more than in 2024.
That’s in part due to the growing number of kelp hatcheries in the state – which rose to seven by the end of 2025. That also includes two hatcheries that stopped producing commercial kelp seed in 2024 but were active again last year – the Prince William Sound Science Center in Cordova and the OceansAlaska hatchery in Ketchikan.
“We’re seeing seed spools that are coming out that look brown and healthy and full. So hopefully we got over a big hurdle with all of this effort and we’re going to be a little bit more successful in our seed quality," Melissa Good said.
Good is a mariculture specialist with the Kodiak Seafood and Marine Science Center and she’s also the coordinator of the center.
According to the Mckinley Research Group’s report, a record amount of Alaska kelp seeded line was sold last year, more than 350,000 feet which is a state record. Those seed lines, typically held in spools of nylon twine, are placed underwater to grow out into mature kelp on aquatic farms.
And kelp farmers and hatchery operators reported fewer issues with seed quality last season compared to the 2023-2024 season. That brought the average of all Alaska kelp farms estimated implied yield up to 1.2 pounds per foot of seeded line in 2025, compared to the 2024 implied yield of 0.7 pounds per foot.
“It’s really been a capacity issue. And across the state we have seen seed failures. It’s a brand new industry," Good said. "Everyone’s kind of, you know, jumping in with not a lot of training, like hands on training to operate these [hatcheries]."
However, Good said kelp hatcheries seemed more successful in 2025 than in previous years.
Last August, the newest of Alaska’s kelp hatcheries, opened inside of the Kodiak Seafood and Marine Science Center. It was designed and built by a nonprofit called GreenWave, which trains and supports regenerative ocean farmers in coastal communities around the country. GreenWave also created a kelp hatchery manual of sorts last year.
As for where the kelp is going, the report backed by the Alaska Mariculture Cluster found that the market for using seaweed to help plants on land grow better expanded rapidly for Alaska kelp last year. Companies in California, British Columbia and Ketchikan purchased Alaska grown seaweed in 2025 to make the products, known as biostimulants. Despite Biostimulants being a key product for Alaska seaweed in 2025, this sector and other emerging buyers are demanding prices well below current prices of $0.85 to $1.00 per wet pound according to the McKinley Research Group.
Researchers also cited a 2023 World Bank report that projects the value of the seaweed biostimulant market will be $1.8 billion by 2030.
Good said if the Alaska mariculture industry wants to grow sustainably and keep increasing its market share, then it will need more than just farmers.
“With a growing industry, with kelp farming and oyster farming, we are gonna need scientists, right? We’re gonna need managers. We’re gonna need scientists," she said. "We want to move forward sustainably and so we need people on that side as well. And the more farms we have, the more people we have to have on the science and management side.”
By the end of 2025, there were 43 proposed aquatic leases for kelp farms, oyster farms or a combination across the state in the permitting phase. Pending and existing aquatic farms could cover up to 2,000 acres of state waters, mostly in Southeast.
