Muriel C. Dittrich1, Schery Umanzor1, Michael S. Stekoll1
1 College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Juneau, Alaska
Wild seaweed harvest supports food security for Indigenous cultures. In Southeast Alaska, seaweeds feature prominently in Indigenous life through cultural practice and the social activity of gathering, preparing, preserving, and sharing. New concerns about the loss of wild biomass have prompted interest in developing cultivation methods for red ribbon (Devaleraea mollis) and stiff red ribbon (Palmaria hecatensis) seaweeds as an approach to supplement wild harvesting. Red ribbon (known as Pacific dulse outside of Alaska) is already grown at commercial scales in other Pacific Northwest states. However, the cultivation protocols described are not suitable for Alaska’s ecotypes and environmental conditions. And there are no cultivation protocols for stiff red ribbon. Our goal is to develop indoor land-based cultivation protocols for year-round vegetative growth for both species, such that high-quality biomass can be harvested at regular intervals. We describe two potential cultivation approaches to grow both species in a land-based tumble culture system and present progress on determining optimal growing conditions and methods to reduce contamination. We also describe steps to bring cultures to open water as tumble cultures may be financially prohibitive for some communities in coastal Alaska. Mastering cultivation on land will lead to new possibilities to use Alaska’s expansive, accessible coastline for future open water mariculture of these two species.