As the Alaska Mariculture Cluster (AMC) enters the final stages of its grant period, an increasing number of AMC-funded projects are reaching completion and publishing their final reports. These reports capture the results, lessons learned, and resources developed through AMC investments and help ensure that project findings remain accessible to Alaska’s growing mariculture industry. In May 2026, three projects spanning Workforce Development, Equipment & Technology, and Research & Development released their final reports, highlighting the breadth of work underway to support Alaska’s seaweed and shellfish sectors.

OceansAlaska’s Hands-on Farm Training project funded planning and implementation of a three-day workshop from March 31 to April 2, 2026. This workshop, which was hosted at the OceansAlaska floating mariculture facility in Ketchikan, taught participants about seed production and hatchery operations. This particular workshop focused on educating participants throughout the whole hatchery production cycle, starting with microalgae production and ending with farm integration. 12 participants attended the workshop and the final report describes all workshop activities, including curriculum descriptions, industry impact, participant outcomes, and photos.

Additionally, the AMC’s Feasibility Study Program now has five published final reports out of nine funded projects. The Alaska Oyster Cooperative shared its final report for a shared shellfish processing facility, as oyster farmers in the Sea Otter Sound do not currently have a centralized location to offload, sort, cool, box, and stage oysters for shipping. This project enables the Alaska Oyster Cooperative, which is made up of five member farms, to envision what this shared space will look like, how it will operate, and create a roadmap towards building and functioning. The final report provides project context, economic analysis, potential revenue streams, logistics outlines, and financial plans for the Naukati Processing Facility.

Finally, the Chugach Regional Resources Commission (CRRC) finished its Kelp Agricultural Product Development project. This funding enabled CRCC to conduct research and field testing on a liquid kelp biostimulant product –– Sea to Sprout –– to refine its formulation and validate its agricultural benefits. The final report includes field trial results across a range of test crops, updates on technical documentation, newly created resources about the product, and relevant literature.

These reports represent just a few of the many projects reaching completion across the AMC portfolio. As additional projects finalize their work, AMC will continue sharing results, resources, and lessons learned to support industry growth and ensure that knowledge generated through these investments remains available to farmers, processors, researchers, and other stakeholders. Final reports and additional project information can be accessed through individual project webpages, the AMC Resource Log, the AMC Airtable Database, and the Mariculture Equipment Airtable Database.

About the AMC Marketing Program

Funded through the AMC’s Market Development grant component, the Alaska Mariculture Alliance (AMA) and Southeast Conference (SEC) have launched a robust marketing program to increase awareness, demand, and long-term market opportunities for Alaska’s growing mariculture industry. The AMC Marketing Program is being advanced by Tastemaker Comms in partnership with Rising Tide Communications – two experienced firms with extensive backgrounds in seafood marketing, brand development, and campaign execution.

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.