Summary
In a 2017 report commissioned by the Alaska Mariculture Task Force, McKinley Research Group developed projections for the potential economic scale of Alaska’s mariculture industry. Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation, with grant support from the Denali Commission, commissioned McKinley Research Group to update these projections for the seaweed sector.
Three scenarios (low, medium, and high) are described below with projections at Year 5, 10, and 20 for the size of the seaweed mariculture industry in Alaska in terms of acres under cultivation, seaweed farm production volume, and the revenue and jobs associated with both the seaweed farming and seaweed processing sectors.
As shown in the chart below, the annual revenue of the Alaska seaweed industry (farming plus processing) is projected to range, in 20 years, between $18 million in the low growth scenario and $450 million in the high growth scenario.
