By ARIADNE WILL
Special to the Sentinel
Amelia Mosher hopes that the Sitka Mermaid Festival, now in its second year, will continue to educate Sitkans about the potential of kelp, the abundant seaweed found in local coastal waters.
This year’s theme, “Vitamin Sea: Nurturing the Ocean that Nurtures Us,” reiterates last year’s seaweed motif.
“We thought we would just go a little deeper this year,” Mosher said Wednesday at the Chamber of Commerce luncheon. The event is scheduled August 24 - September 1.
Mosher, who was born and raised in Sitka, began the festival in 2018 and is coordinating the week-long extravaganza again this year.
Though the festival remains focused on naturally-occurring seaweed, Mosher is increasingly interested in the idea of kelp farming in Alaska.
“There is a big interest in bringing seaweed farming into the state,” she said. “It’s a really easy, sustainable crop to grow and it does a lot for the atmosphere.”
Benefits of kelp farming range from environmental to economic, Mosher said.
“Seaweed can start recreating habitat for some of our really important key species,” she said, mentioning herring as an example.
“We didn’t have a herring fishery this year. The idea of growing seaweed and being able to perhaps create habitat, maybe clean up the water a little bit, and be more attractive to those herring certainly doesn’t hurt.”
Amelia Mosher speaks at the Sitka Chamber of Commerce noon luncheon Wednesday at the Westmark Hotel. (Sentinel Photo)
There are other benefits from kelp, Mosher said.
“Seaweed has the ability to clean up contaminated ocean areas, it has the ability of drawing almost anything except for heavy metals out of contaminated areas, and we can still harvest it and use it for a food source,” she said. “It also has the ability of drawing carbon out of the atmosphere, and as we know, the kelp forests grow so many times faster than regular trees.”
This creates the possibility of trading “carbon credits,” Mosher said.
“It’s been regulated to a certain amount that if you’re a large company who wants to emit more carbon than you’re allowed, you have to do a deal with an entity that has some form of carbon-absorbing project,” she said, describing carbon credits as “the scientific innovation to offset carbon pollution.”
With the help of an international company called Blue Evolution and local interest, kelp farming could begin soon, Mosher said.
“Blue Evolution has been growing seaweed all over the world,” she said. “They are very eager to start growing in Alaska.”
In fact, Blue Evolution has already begun to establish itself in the state: Nick Mangini, a classmate of Mosher’s who now lives in Kodiak, has begun growing seaweed with the help of Blue Evolution.
“Up in Kodiak, Blue Evolution came in with their money and their infrastructure and they helped get a farm started up there,” Mosher said. “They also helped create the infrastructure to get an industrial dryer up at their local fish plant. I couldn’t help thinking about that, and what that would look like in our community. Maybe Sitka Sound Seafood isn’t that busy in the winter, but they could be with a little more equipment.”
Aside from kelp farming, Mosher hopes to share the culinary possibilities of seaweed with Sitkans. This year’s Mermaid Festival will feature the Umami Banquet, which Mosher describes as a “tasting event sourced from the sea.”
With presenting partner Alaska Airlines, the event will bring up a chef from Northern California, Cassandra Victoria Kelly, to work with locals to prepare the “umami” food.
“Umami actually translates from Japanese to ‘good’ or ‘nice’ or ‘tasty,’” Mosher said. “Some even describe umami as more of a sensation than as a flavor.”
The event will feature many small plates, a technique Mosher says works to enhance the umami sensation.
“You don’t want to consume too much of the umami-rich foods because it starts to saturate and becomes not attractive,” she said.
Tickets for the Umami Banquet, which will feature a live auction and a performance by Sitka Cirque, are on sale at Old Harbor Books. Tickets are available for both full course tasting and for limited courses, which Mosher described as “standing room only” tickets. They are $65 and $40.
The festival is holding events beginning Saturday, August 24, with a “paint and snack” event for children at the Alaska Longline Fisherman’s Association building on Baranof Street. This event, as well as the Umami Banquet, are held in partnership with the Sitka Seafood Festival.
The Mermaid Market, where local craft vendors will offer their wares, will be open on August 31 and September 1 at Harrigan Centennial Hall.
Other events will include a beach cleanup at the Halibut Point Recreation Area, a “Paint ‘n’ Sip” at Rio’s, and a seaweed cooking class held by Sitka Kitch at the old Presbyterian Church on Sawmill Creek Road.
A more extensive schedule can be found on Facebook, on the Sitka Mermaid Festival’s page, by clicking on “events.”
Those interested in getting involved or volunteering with the event can contact Mosher at (707) 672-2909.
“There’s so much more we can do with seaweed,” Mosher said.
