COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL OF SEAWEEDS FROM ST-LAWRENCE-ISLAND, ALASKA .1. THE AVAILABLE RESOURCE

This study assessed the possibility of using drift and subtidal seawee ds from St Lawrence Island, Alaska (lat. 63-degrees-N) for sale by the native population after simple processing. Over 125 km of coastline w ere surveyed for distribution of both drift and subtidal seaweeds. Dri ft seaweed wet weight densities ranged from 0.2 to over 9 kg m-2, with an average of over 4 t km-1 in the areas sampled. Attached, benthic s eaweed densities ranged from 0.15 to 0.32 kg m-2. Thirty and 35% of th e biomass was composed of Agarum cribrosum and species of Laminaria, r espectively, both as drift and as benthic seaweed. Data from tagged La minaria indicated that growth rates were relatively slow for most of t he year. The drift seaweed resource on the coasts south and west of th e city of Gambell appeared to have good potential for a small-scale co mmercial harvest.