This photo of a giant kelp is by Flickr user John Turnbull. Giant kelp is one of the varieties of kelp farmed in Alaska. License.
Sara Whitney of the Alaska Dept. of Labor and Workforce Development highlights Alaska’s growing aquaculture industry. Alaska has more coastline that the lower 48 combined, but only in June of this year, the state was deemed as a federal aquaculture opportunity area. This opportunity allows the state to support multiple commercial aquatic farming operations, like kelp. Although the salmon hatchery industry came first, seaweed is a newcomer with many uses, and the industry is expanding.
The December edition also highlights Alaska community changes from pre- to post-pandemic. The monthly high-level overview of Alaska’s economy closes this month’s publication.
Read the full edition here.
Trends is a nonpartisan, data-driven magazine that covers a variety of economic topics in Alaska.
Source: Alaska Department of Labor & Workforce Development, Research & Analysis
UA Workforce Development News 