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Mariculture Apprentices Learn on the Job
September 14, 2026
Lead Entities: Alaska Mariculture Alliance, Alaska Sea Grant, University of Alaska Fairbanks
Grant Component: Workforce Development
This post taken from Alaska Sea Grant blog by Tom Moran
Mariculture is growing in Alaska, and the workforce needs to grow with it. That’s the motivation behind Alaska Sea Grant’s Mariculture Summer Apprenticeships, which is funded by the AMC grant’s Workforce Development program. The program matches aspiring mariculturalists with kelp and oyster businesses across the state, enabling the apprentices to gain job skills and experience in the industry.
“There’s definitely a workforce shortage in mariculture operations in the state,” said Alaska Sea Grant Shellfish Mariculture Specialist James Crimp, who is in charge of the program. “We have heard repeatedly from mariculture operators that they need help finding skilled, motivated workers to fill positions at the farms, and especially to take up more leadership positions.”
Crimp said the effort is modeled on a successful apprenticeship program in Maine. Alaska Sea Grant solicits applications from both prospective apprenticeship hosts and prospective apprentices. The organization vets both and provides the apprenticeship applicants’ details to the hosts, who then contact and hire apprentices for a four-to-10 week stint.
Apprentice Spotlight!
Roxy Reynolds’ Alaska Sea Grant Mariculture Summer Apprenticeship was a homecoming in the most literal sense. Years ago, Reynolds’ grandparents sold their farm to one of their workers, Sean Crosby. Through the Apprenticeship program, Reynold’s was reunited with her family’s old farm and worked at Crosby’s Moss Island Oyster Farm in Kachemak Bay.
“Mariculture is one of those industries where it’s really hard work… you have to get up early, often go out in inclement weather, work your butt off all day long,” Crimp noted. “But at the same time, the people that end up doing it can just really love it. One of the cool things about apprenticeships is they really help connect applicants with farms.”
The apprenticeships offered this summer drew immediate interest, drawing applications from 15 prospective hosts and more than 30 prospective apprentices for a total of nine slots. The selected apprentices hailed from coastal communities across Alaska as well as from out of state, while hosts included oyster and kelp farms in locations around Cordova, Homer, Prince of Wales Island and Juneau.
The apprenticeships were supported by the Alaska Mariculture Cluster, which is funded by a $49 million grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s Build Back Better Regional Challenge. Crimp said he hopes to continue the program in 2027 pending funding, and that prospective applicants should keep an eye out for more information toward the end of 2026.
Mariculture Summer Apprentice Lola Nagle holds up bull kelp that was cultivated at her host farm, Noble Ocean Farms near Cordova. Photo by Skye Steritz.
Mariculture Summer Apprentice Eli Snyder (center) with hosts James Greeley and Katie Bode behind a pile of oysters at Tommaso Shellfish in Naukati Bay on Prince of Wales Island. Photo courtesy Katie Bode.
About the Alaska Mariculture Cluster
In September 2022, Southeast Conference was awarded a $49 million U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) grant to stimulate private investment and grow Alaska’s mariculture industry to $100 million in sales in 10 years. The Alaska Mariculture Cluster grant involves a large coalition of state agencies, Tribes, non-profits, and others working together over a five year period ending May 2027.
