Alaska Sea Grant attends Pacific Marine Expo

Alaska Sea Grant has been attending the Pacific Marine Expo in Seattle for at least four decades. This year, Alaska Sea Grant hosted a booth at the November 18–20 event to network and share information with people in marine industries across California, Oregon, Washington and Alaska.

Pacific Marine Expo is an annual trade show that brings together commercial fishing, maritime, seafood processing, and shoreside support businesses for three days of educational sessions and events. As many as 6,000 people attend the expo each year. Hundreds of exhibitors include equipment and propulsion companies, builders, suppliers, and education and outreach organizations like Alaska Sea Grant. Educational sessions at the expo covered topics ranging from the impact of offshore wind on the fishing industry to how to operate a sustainable commercial fishing business.

Alaska Sea Grant’s exhibit booth showcased our services, publications, and educational resources and events as we met with commercial fishermen, subsistence and charter operators, seafood processors, and resource managers. Longtime Alaska Sea Grant supporter Senator Lisa Murkowski stopped by our booth to say hello to our team.

The expo provided Alaska Sea Grant State Fellow, Tav Ammu, the opportunity to network and share his work with the Alaska Clean Harbors Program. He was able to promote a survey that will inform future efforts aimed at reducing pollution in Alaska harbors.

Chris Sannito participated in a seafood industry panel to discuss some of the innovative new products he is helping develop through the Kodiak Seafood and Marine Science Center, including his work with Anchorage-based tortilla manufacturing company Taco Loco to create a tortilla containing seaweed.

Gabe Dunham, Alaska Sea Grant’s fisheries specialist said that the expo is a great way to meet and engage with our stakeholders. “Fishermen, charter operators, seafood processors – they’re all there buzzing around the energy of these marine industries, and we missed that last year since the event was canceled. Alaska Sea Grant is a go-to organization for information about Alaska’s coastal environment and communities, and I’m happy we were able to continue to safely fulfill that role this year.”