In Alaska, Kelp Farming Offers Promise for People and Nature
On a visit to Cordova, a Pew staffer sees how new industry benefits coastal communities and ocean health
As my plane banked over the vast Copper River Delta in Alaska—millions of acres of wetlands teeming with life—and the expanse of Prince William Sound stretched toward the horizon, I was reminded anew of my home state’s staggering scale. We touched down in Cordova, a fishing town of 2,400 people accessible only by boat or plane, where deep ties to land and sea shape daily life. I was here to see the latest expression of that spirit: a burgeoning seaweed farming industry, and its potential to benefit both people and nature.
Cordova’s Changing Tides
Cordova sits on the west edge of the Copper River Delta, surrounded by waters that have sustained the Eyak, Tlingit, and Athabaskan peoples since time immemorial. But today those Indigenous communities and other longtime residents are voicing concerns about shifting ocean conditions and pressure on traditional fisheries, which are changing long-standing ways of life as salmon and herring runs decline and fishing opportunities dwindle.
The people are responding to change as they always have—by adapting. In the cold, nutrient-rich waters surrounding Cordova, seaweed farms are creating opportunities for economic diversification while supporting marine ecosystems in ways that align with Indigenous values of stewardship. Fishing towns such as Cordova are well positioned for this transition—the boats, maritime expertise, and seasonal work schedules that have sustained generations translate naturally to seaweed farming.
A ‘loud little bird’ drives local advocacy
On my second day in Cordova, I join Dune Lankard, founder and president of the Cordova-based nonprofit Native Conservancy, at the dock. Lankard is Alaska Native of Eyak and Athabaskan descent, and of the Eagle Clan. His Eyak name, Jamachakih, means “little bird that screams really loud and won’t shut up.” When Lankard speaks, his words carry the weight of ancestral memory and deep conviction—the kind that comes from a lifetime of advocating for his people and their lands and waters.
We board Native Conservancy’s boat, the Holdfast, with conservancy staffers April Minnich and Dr. Tiffany Stephens, Dr. Alysha Cypher from the Prince William Sound Science Center, and Kristin Smith, who serves as both mayor of Cordova and executive director of the Prince William Sound Economic Development District.
Motoring into the sound, we watch vessels working together to reel up kelp and transport it for processing. Sean Den Adel and Skye Steritz, co-founders of the seaweed farming business Noble Ocean Farms, haul in long fronds of golden-brown sugar kelp—beautiful, abundant, and a little unwieldy, as some of it sloughs back into the water before it could be secured.
We’d come equipped to help, and Stephens leans out with a long dipnet while Minnich and I hold her steady, rescuing fallen kelp before making our way to the Amber Anne—a mobile processing vessel operated by the women-led organization Mothers of Millions (MoM).
How kelp benefits marine life
In Alaska and elsewhere, kelp farms serve as nurseries for juvenile fish, provide habitat for countless other marine species, and act as natural water filters. Kelp, a type of brown algae, also raises the pH levels of the surrounding water, reducing ocean acidification—a threat to shellfish and other marine life. The marine algae is sold internationally as a primary food source and for use in a range of products, from pharmaceuticals and toiletries to pet food.
Aboard the Amber Anne, a conveyor belt shuttles seaweed into a chopper that minces the fronds into manageable pieces. MoM co-founders Kristen Smith and Briana Murphy created this system, which solves a key challenge for farmers: the need to stabilize seaweed quickly after harvest.
This kind of community-driven environmental stewardship is an ideal solution to modern challenges in this remote region and others like it around the world, which is why The Pew Charitable Trusts sought to support this work.
For this industry to fulfill its promise to benefit working people and nature, it must be built by and for local leaders and small businesses. The people I met in my five days in and around Cordova are charting that path forward, braiding tradition and innovation and shaping their future as they’ve lived their entire lives—with hope, vision, and hard work.
Lila Hobbs works on The Pew Charitable Trusts’ seaweed farming project and is based in Anchorage, Alaska.
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