PROJECT PARTNERS

Scott Lindell is a Research Specialist in marine farming at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). Over the last 33 years he has managed multiple projects to bridge the biological, engineering and political challenges of developing a thriving marine farming community. His projects include development of methods for combining shellfish and seaweed farming, leading a breeding and genetic improvement program for sugar kelp. Like most of the ANCIENT MARINER teammates below, he's helping to establishing large-scale demonstration farms for kelp in Alaska and New England, and tropical seaweed in the Caribbean and elsewhere that may one day provide significant resources for food, feed, and carbon-neutral biofuels.

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Hauke Kite-Powell, Research Specialist, WHOI, has a background in engineering and economics, and has published on economic models including hatcheries and macro-algae farms. He will be responsible for techno-economic assessments of our projects.

 

Erin Fischell, Assistant Scientist, WHOI, runs the Marine Unmanned Robotics and Acoustics Lab (MURAL).  MURAL works to develop novel acoustic sensing, autonomy, and perception in the ocean. This work includes developing payloads, sensing, and autonomy for autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and autonomous surface vehicles (ASVs) which is key to integrated monitoring of remote seaweed farms.

 

Charles Yarish, University of Connecticut, is Professor Emeritus of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology. He has 40 years of expertise related to seaweed biogeography, ecophysiology, aquaculture, breeding and hatchery technologies, and has developed international collaborations with our project advisors. He oversees scientific research associated with many aspects of these projects, and is a key advisor for technology transfer and outreach.

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Mike Stekoll, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Alaska Southeast (UAS), has over 30 years of experience in seaweed aquaculture research on kelps and other species, and leads the kelp farming demonstration project in Alaska.

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Loretta Roberson, is an Associate Scientist at the Marine Biological Laboratory and former director of the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) Center for Renewable Energy and Sustainability. She has more than 20 years of experience in algal biology and physiology. She leads the Tropical Seaweed demonstration project in Puerto Rico, Florida and Belize.

 

Jean-Luc Jannink, USDA-ARS, Cornell University has developed methods to improve the power of GWAS and accuracy of genomic predictions with coordinated breeding schemes. He is expert in statistical genetics and GWAS applied to plant breeding directs project breeding plans and genetic analysis.

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Clifford Goudey, founder of C.A. Goudey and Associates, has over 30 years of experience in the design, development, and commercial deployment of innovative systems associated with fishing, aquaculture, vessels, and robotics.  He designed the seaweed farming systems and its mooring components, and the harvesting systems and vessels for our projects.

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Julie Decker, Executive Director of Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation (AFDF), has over 20 years experience in commercial fishing and in fishery-related R&D in Alaska. Decker serves on the Governor’s Alaska Mariculture Task Force. Decker is responsible for stakeholder relationships and engagement in our Alaska project.

 

Bren Smith and Kendall Barbery, GreenWave, lead a non-profit organization intended to enhance the quality of life for marine farmers, their customers and the planet through “3-D” farming which includes seaweeds. Their team is adopting new technology developed as part of these projects for inclusion in GreenWave’s Farmer Training Program. They have trained and directly supported 120 emerging ocean farmers in seven states and, of the 40 participants in their New England training program, roughly half have secured leases and permits for their own ocean farms.

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Beau Perry is CEO and owner of Premium Oceanic LLC and Blue Evolution which he founded in 2013. He is a multi-national entrepreneur applying sustainable management to mariculture development on the west coast of North America. Blue Evolution operates a seaweed hatchery in Kodiak, Alaska and coordinates seaweed harvests and processing with local seaweed farmers (Alf Pryor and Nick Mangini) managing our project demonstration farm sites.

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Leonardo Mata, Chief Scientist at Greener Grazing, is a leading expert on Asparagopsis sp. cultivation, physiology and reproduction. He has over 20 years of applied research experience focused on macroalgae aquaculture, algal bio-products, and marine biotechnology. He was a research fellow at James Cook University, Australia, collaborating with the team that discovered the anti-methanogenic effects of Asparagopsis in ruminant animals.

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Robert Jones is the Global Lead for The Nature Conservancy’s Aquaculture Program. The program consists of active projects in seven countries designed to ensure aquaculture operates in harmony with nature and provides benefits to people. Robert’s work with TNC has been featured by organizations including Harvard Business School and the World Economic Forum. Prior to joining The Nature Conservancy, Robert served as the Program Coordinator for the NOAA Fisheries Office of Aquaculture.

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Tiffany Waters is The Nature Conservancy’s Aquaculture Strategy Specialist. She focuses on restorative seaweed and shellfish aquaculture and works closely with global field programs to develop new projects, support existing aquaculture projects, and facilitate knowledge sharing and best practices. Before joining TNC, she worked in the shellfish farming industry, and she worked at the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission – an inter-tribal natural resources organization serving the 20 Treaty Tribes of Washington State.

 

Advisors

Alejandro Buschmann and Carolina Camus, research group of the Centro I-mar & CeBiB of the Universidad de los Lagos, Chile, have > 30 years of experience and over 100 publications in seaweed ecology, physiology, genetics and aquaculture working mainly with the giant kelp Macrocystis pyrifera as a model. They have published research on kelp breeding on a commercial scale farm (21 ha).

 

Jang K. Kim, Incheon National University, S. Korea is an Assistant Professor of Marine Science. He is an expert in seaweed ecology, physiology and aquaculture with nearly 20 years of experience in open water seaweed aquaculture, seaweed hatchery, breeding and processing technologies.

 

Hortimare, Netherlands, is the premier Seaweed Breeding and Hatchery center in Europe. They exchange information about our parallel challenges and opportunities for the selective improvement of seaweed cultivars, and methods of efficiently planting farms.