Markos moved to Southeast Alaska in 1982. Over the next several decades, he lived in Thorne Bay, Hollis, Klawock, and Ketchikan, including graduating from Ketchikan High School in 1986. Markos spent more than a dozen years working for Silver Lining and NorQuest Seafoods before attending law school and practicing fisheries business and maritime law for nearly 20 years. Now, Markos returns to his roots by pursuing kelp and oyster farming in Southeast Alaska. The pull of being part of the growth of a sustainable, environmentally friendly, and non-extraction based business was too great. Kelp and oyster farming also provides a new opportunity for sustainable, environmentally friendly, and renewable industries supporting economic growth for coastal Alaskans.
Markos has been a board member of the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation since 2007. AFDF promoted the Alaska Mariculture Initiative which resulted in the creation of the Alaska Mariculture Task Force.
Markos serves as the President of the Board of Trustees and as a board member of the Southeast Conference, the regional economic development group for Southeast Alaska. He has also served as the president of the Northwest Fisheries Association.
Contact: markos@seagrovekelp.com
Thomas was born in Ketchikan, AK but grew up in Texas where he graduated from Tuloso Midway High School with honors and a blue chord in tech. He started out in the service industry and later found a love for carpentry and repairs and began apprenticing to become proficient as a handyman. After his training, Thomas hitchhiked from Tijuana up the west coast and back to his hometown on Prince of Wales, AK. It was here that he started fishing commercially and started his own carpentry business as well as using his skills to flip cars. As Thomas built up his reputation back home he soon heard about Seagrove Kelp and applied for a job on the kelp farm and hasn’t looked back since. His background makes him a great all around farm hand and in his free time he enjoys hiking, hunting, fishing, working on cars, boating, and woodworking. In his own words, Thomas is a simple man with simple beliefs.
Maura grew up in the Midwest before moving to Ketchikan, Alaska in high school. There she graduated, attended the University of Alaska Southeast remotely, and snagged her first job on a commercial fishing boat. The captain of her boat became her husband and together they spent summers fishing the coasts of Alaska and winters traveling. Maura’s love for sustainability and the bounty of Alaska grew in these years and she has since settled down in Metlakatla, Alaska where she and her husband continue to operate their commercial fishing business while raising their two young kids and three dogs. Maura spends her free time beach-combing with her kids, picking berries, and reading. She has always had an eye for design and media and therefore her position with Seagrove Kelp combines her passions for marketing and the natural world perfectly.
Contact: maura@seagrovekelp.com
Chunk spent most of his childhood in Ketchikan, Alaska. After graduation, he obtained a degree in audio engineering and then hit the road. Chunk spent about twenty-five years touring the world with punk bands and hip hop crews. When stationary he worked in security and booking at an all-ages music venue in Seattle as well as working for Pirate Press records, a manufacturing and record label out of the Bay Area. After seeing the world and pursuing his passion for music Chunk rediscovered his love for his hometown, Ketchikan. He moved back in 2018 and has since joined the team at Seagrove Kelp where he is proud to be a part of a team that is building a new and environmentally friendly industry in his home state.
Bryan was born in Wrangell, AK but moved to Ketchikan when he was nine years old where he spent his summers commercial fishing until graduating high school. After a series of odd jobs, including working at EC Phillips (a packing company out of Ketchikan), Bryan attended college in Seattle and eventually found his passion working in IT. His favorite position in those years was in Video Encoding/Engineering at Microsoft. Other hobbies and passions that Bryan pursued include standup and sketch comedy, art, animation, acting, music, design, writing, and meditation. After twenty years of living in Seattle Bryan decided it was time to shift gears and pursue something new. Ultimately it led to his move back home to Ketchikan where he teamed up with Chunk Kelly and the rest of the Seagrove Kelp crew. Here he fell in love with the mariculture industry and has started a deep dive into cultivating oysters. Bryan now finds himself immersed in his new passion in the cultivation of microalgae/phytoplankton and aquaculture in general.
Nick was born in Ketchikan, AK but spent most of his youth in Craig on Prince of Wales Island where he graduated from high school. When Nick was younger he spent his summers commercial fishing with his dad before heading off to college in Washington state. While he was gone he missed Alaska and his small town life and so he decided to pack up and head home. Back on the fishing grounds Nick purchased his own power troller and continues to this day to fish for salmon, shrimp and longlines. Looking to branch out, Nick took a position with Seagrove, originally with work on the kelp farm but has transitioned onto the oyster farm, playing a vital role in building that project up from the start. In his free time Nick loves to hunt, hike, camp, and be outdoors with his family and dogs.