Tomi | Alaska

Tomi Marsh

Ketchikan, AK

We’re excited to expand our work in new regions—like Alaska—alongside community partners and local inspirational leaders like Tomi Marsh. Tomi is a respected fishing captain with 37 years of experience in Alaska’s major fisheries; from tendering salmon in summer waters and crabbing in the Bering Sea, to longlining for halibut and cod, she has a deep connection to the seas and appreciation for each season’s bounty. For Tomi, regenerative ocean farming is a way to bring economic diversity to coastal communities while providing ecosystem services to support the Alaskan fishing industry.

Tomi is a longtime board member of OceansAlaska—a nonprofit marine science center and hatchery dedicated to preserving Alaska’s rural working waterfront. Inspired by GreenWave, Tomi and OceansAlaska are researching seaweed mariculture to build a base of institutional knowledge around regenerative ocean farming to share with the surrounding community. Their goal is to develop the Alaskan seaweed market and create seed security among hatcheries to relieve stress on wild populations of seaweed. Because the 3D ocean farming model uses common fishing gear, the familiarity invites fishermen, like Tomi, to use their existing skills and equipment to establish ocean farms; mariculture is an accessible source of supplemental income for commercial port fisherman.

Tomi looks forward to expanding the regenerative ocean farming industry to build economic and environmental resilience among the Alaskan fisheries and coastal communities in collaboration with GreenWave. As a fisherman, she’s worked to gain respect as a member of the crew—not one of the men. In Tomi’s experience, the fishing industry has been accepting and inclusive, and these values motivate the new regenerative ocean farming industry. She’s is eager to create generational opportunities to revitalize both the environment and Alaska’s working waterfronts.