Interview with Markos Scheer of Seagrove Kelp

This is the first of a series of interviews we’ll be sharing in the coming weeks. We planned on catching up with Markos Scheer, CEO of Seagrove Kelp, (and other folks creating positive change in the seafood industry) at the Boston Seafood Show. Since it was rescheduled, we decided to conduct these interviews virtually and share them here.

Here’s an outline of the interview

• Intro to Markos and to SeaGrove Kelp (00:00-2:13)

• State of fisheries in Alaska (2:14-2:35)

• Overview of the benefits of the kelp farm (2:36 -3:20)

• Description of farm (3:21-6:08)

• Types and description of kelp being grown (6:09 -7:12) 85% Bullwhip Kelp, 15% Ribbon Kelp

• Uses for different parts of the kelp (7:13-8:46)

• Markets for the kelp and the impacts of Covid-19 (8: 47-10:29)

• One of primary goals – help North Americans become more familiar with eating kelp (10:30-11:01)

• Why is seaweed so awesome? (11:02-12:53)

• It’s SO nutritious (only non-meat source that has natural Vitamin B12) (12:55 -14:21)

• Slime book, story of algae throughout time (14:22-15:17)

• Business model (15:18-16:14)

• From harvest to dinner plate (17:19-18:31)

• Using existing Alaskan seafood processing infrastructure (18:32-19:45)

• Is there a plan to do oysters in the future? (19:46-20:27)

• Day to day operations on the farm (20:28-22:21)

• Footprint of farm and crew (22:22-23:17)

• Future expansion (23:18-23:54)

• How does the local community feel about the farm? (23:55-26:26)

• Opportunities in the marketplace (26:08-27:03)

• This year’s harvest, current market considerations (27:04-29:03)

• Kelp farming is paradigm shift in sustainable food production (29:04-30:50)

• Have there been any wildlife interactions thus far? (30:51-32:51)

• Seaweed production in Asia (32:52-34:56)

• Closing (34:57-36:01)

Resource List

Seagrove Kelp

Barnacle Foods

Slime: How Algae Created Us, Plague Us, and Just Might Save Us