A Haines resident is working to start a new form of commercial agriculture taking root in Alaska: kelp farming.
Alain D’Epremesnil has applied with the State of Alaska’s Department of Natural Resources for a 10-year aquatic farmsite lease. The lease would allow him to develop submerged lands near Battery Point for the kelp farm he’s calling Alaska Salty Greens.
D’Epremesnil, who’s seasonally lived in Haines since 2002, said he’s looking forward to entering a new industry. “It sounds like a good way to make a living,” he said. “The seaweed industry is in a fast- growing phase right now. It’s a good way to produce food in a sustainable way.”
There are 18 active aquatic farms that grow various kelp species in the state, according to DNR natural resource manager Brittany Smith. “Kelp has many uses but the primary market for kelp grown in Alaska is for food, whether it be raw, dried, or frozen; additionally, it can be made into many products such as kelp salsa, pickles or pasta,” Smith said. “Kelp can also be used to make fertilizer, soap, cosmetics and hygiene products.”
D’Epremesnil said he’ll likely dry his harvest and sell it to manufacturers, but it’s too soon to announce concrete plans. He applied for a three-acre site in the cove on the southeast side of Battery Point. In Alaska, aquatic farm sites range from .99 to 127 acres, Smith said.
D’Epremesnil plans to grow six species including ribbon kelp, sugar kelp, bull kelp, red ribbon laver and sea lettuce. Kelp grows in the fall and winter and is harvested in the spring.
He needs additional permits from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Department of Environmental Conservation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and doesn’t expect to start his operation for another several years.
“Right now, I’m working seasonally in the Mojave Desert doing surveys with desert tortoises,” he said. “They’re endangered and there’s a lot of working going around.”
Demand for seaweed like kelp has grown over the past five decades, and “mariculture produces more than 96 percent of the world’s supply of seaweed products, currently valued at $4-5 billion,” according to a 2017 report from Alaska Sea Grant, a research and education program at the College of Fisheries and Ocean Science at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Former Gov. Bill Walker created an Alaska Mariculture Task Force charged with developing a plan to expand mariculture opportunities. The Dunleavy administration has also expressed support for the industry. The seaweed market is primarily in Asia and Europe, although niche markets are rising in the state and domestically, according to the report.
Alaska Sea Grant’s marine advisory agent Gary Freitag said there’s still work to be done in terms of creating a larger market share for Alaska-grown kelp.
“Right now, the market is so small because there’s very little kelp being grown,” Freitag said. “Most of them are in little niche markets, small markets like Barnacle Foods.”
Mountain Market recently began selling kelp salsa and seasoning condiments made by the Juneau company. “We started selling it within the last year,” Mountain Market co-owner Mary Jean Sebens said. “It’s doing well. Travelers as well as locals appreciate locally made products whether it’s from Haines or Juneau or Sitka.”
Freitag said the more farms that start in Alaska, the better chances they’ll have of overcoming the barriers of getting their product to Asia and Europe. I think it has extremely good possibilities especially in Southeast Alaska from Haines all the way south below Ketchikan. I think we’re poised for this to happen, it’s just a matter of overcoming some stumbling blocks.”