The Seeds That You Plant

November 26, 2025

Tommy Sheridan

Tommy Sheridan wears many hats. Among them, he is the director of the Alaska Blue Economy Center. Sheridan is a fisheries expert, researcher and educator based out of Cordova, Alaska. He has lived, worked, studied and taught in and from Alaska for the past two decades, with a focus on commercial fishery management and salmon hatchery operations. Sheridan is an active public servant for several local, statewide and international bodies, and was appointed as a United States Representative to the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission in 2020. He continues to serve the commission as Alaska’s commissioner. For the Alaska EPSCoR Interface of Change project, he co-coordinates workforce development efforts to support the development of an Innovation Hub in the Prince William Sound region, which aims to grow emerging industries like kelp farming and regenerative tourism.

 

While many of my colleagues and peers may find themselves traveling to far away places with strange sounding names, from Reykjavik and Bergen to Barcelona and Vigo, I’ve recently found much inspiration in classrooms in Valdez and Cordova, southcentral Alaska. Don’t get me wrong, I love exotic seafood and experiencing new cultures. But as I settle into the latter half of my career, and am gloriously transfixed in the midst of parenthood, I’ve found myself leaning heavily into workforce readiness programs for young people, and workforce development initiatives for our community and industry partners.

 

And as the days grow shorter and colder weather approaches, seasonal reflections set in, and I’m reminded of Robert Louis Stevenson’s quote: “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.”

 

The New Blue Economy, as former National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Administrator and Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere Rick Spinrad describes it, is a “a knowledge-based economy, looking to the sea not just for extraction of material goods, but for data and information to address societal challenges and inspire their solutions.” In January 2021, under Spinrad’s leadership, NOAA released its Blue Economy Strategic Plan for 2021–2025, laying out a roadmap for new ways to advance America’s Blue Economy and enhance the global ocean economy.

 

So what is the blue economy, and why is this approach considered new? According to the World Bank, the blue economy is the “sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods, and jobs while preserving the health of ocean ecosystems.” In places like Cordova and Valdez, the “now blue economy” includes some of the country’s largest commercial salmon fisheries, driven largely by a globally significant salmon aquaculture program. According to NOAA, the new blue economy is similarly defined as a sustainable and equitable ocean and coastal economy, but one that optimizes (and features) advances in science and technology to create value added, data-driven economic opportunities and solutions to societal needs.

 

Circling back to 2021, Spinrad and marine science and education leader Liesl Hotaling edited the seminal text “Preparing a Workforce for the New Blue Economy,” where they highlighted exciting new areas on the cusp of transformation, including renewable ocean energy, decarbonization of shipping, sustainable aquaculture, ecotourism, and ocean data. Exciting developments, no doubt, and areas where Alaska has and can lead the way. However, some 20 chapters in, I can’t help but notice that Hotaling weighs in with a chapter that defines their text: “Preparing the workforce for the new blue economy.” In it, they assert that (new) blue economy workers will require a transdisciplinary understanding of sociopolitical considerations, business acumen, engineering methods, and an ability to integrate science concepts all directly alongside one of the most important skills—the ability to collaborate within a transdisciplinary team. Hotaling argues that improvements are necessary in primary STEM education, data and digital literacy are essential, and that traditional mathematics curricula need to evolve to give greater consideration to data science and statistics. Hotaling goes on to assert that community colleges are the lifeblood of higher learning, to which I agree, and argues for the importance of apprenticeship programs, and postsecondary vocational training programs similar to those embraced by the German Vocational Training System. Finally, Hotaling acknowledges the role that certificates and microcredentials can and will provide workers across generations with skills training necessary for an adaptable workforce.

 

Not surprisingly, Alaska Blue Economy Center (ABEC) was established around this same time frame, and was first staffed in 2021, with workforce development innovation being an area of emphasis, and the communities of Valdez and Cordova receiving focused attention. So, four years later, how have we done?

 

In 2022, ABEC advocated for Valdez interests and PWSC’s inclusion in both the $49 million grant that would become known as the Alaska Mariculture Cluster (AMC), and a $20 million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant through the Alaska Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) that established the “Interface of Change” (IoC) project. Both projects have and will continue to benefit Cordova and Valdez, and Alaska Science Olympiad and T3 Alaska are both funded activities in IoC.

 

Later that same year, ABEC and City of Valdez developed a formal relationship, where ABEC was looked to as a catalyst supporting mariculture development in the community and broader region, with a specific focus on encouraging PWSC’s growth in this emerging area of opportunity.

 

In 2023, UAF hosted Alaska Science Olympiad for the first time, and ABEC has since sponsored the 2024, 2025, and 2026 events. Tailored primarily for middle school students, Science Olympiad and other STEM co-curricular programs provide young adults with a glimpse into the future by providing opportunities for career exploration and mentoring from STEM professionals. With ABEC’s support, Cordova fielded a Science Olympiad team in 2025, and Valdez has recently registered for the 2026 event. ABEC catalyzed the integration of mariculture into Science Olympiad, and is taking the lead on its continued development.

 

Similarly, ABEC facilitated the introduction of Teaching Through Technology (T3 Alaska) to the community of Valdez in 2023, and its City Council subsequently voted to fund the establishment of a T3 site at Valdez High School soon thereafter. Leveraging the City’s support, and a variety of mariculture funding sources, ABEC and Prince William Sound College (PWSC, formerly known as Prince William Sound Community College) have since worked to develop mariculture curriculum for integration into T3’s microcredentialing programs. ABEC has also supported the development of a T3 site in Cordova, and will be taking on a leadership role in the community in 2024/2025, with the assistance of local leadership.

 

And there are exciting results to highlight, especially those which have been accomplished by PWSC faculty and students. For example, former PWSC student Hannah Bogdan has since transitioned to Southeast Alaska, where they serve as a Community-Engaged Fellow with Alaska Sea Grant. Similarly, PWSC graduate Brittany Kuzma has gone on to serve as an intern with both Native Village of Eyak in Cordova, and at the UAF Matanuska Experiment Farm in Palmer, where they contributed to a research project using kelp as fertilizer to support sustainable agriculture. Last, but not least, former PWSC student Danielle Tryon leveraged their research in Prince William Sound into a graduate assistantship with UAF, where they’re currently a graduate student in the university’s College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences. ABEC cannot and will not take credit for these successful outcomes, but instead will do everything it can to support and acknowledge those leading these efforts daily, especially PWSC Assistant Professor of Biology and Environmental Science Dr. Amanda Glazier and their team, including program coordinator Dr. Melissa Uselman, and lab and field work coordinator Martina Gerasch. Collectively, and with the support of PWSC administrators and staff, they have provided their students with extraordinary opportunities, some of which were on display at the college’s third annual Environmental Sciences Symposium in May 2025. ABEC is proud to have worked with PWSC to support these efforts.

 

Driven in part by intuition, observations and experience, and acknowledgement of expert recommendations in the blue economy space, ABEC’s approach towards workforce development has focused on support of K-12 STEM partners, such as Alaska Science Olympiad, and T3 Alaska. We’ve worked to support technical and community-based colleges, and especially Prince William Sound College, which is based in Valdez with an extension campus in Cordova. And we’ve worked with industry (mariculture) and community (Valdez in particular) partners to develop an innovative “glidepath” whereby students can develop an understanding of employment opportunities, and have options to include direct placement in the field, or continuation of their academic pursuits. Will these seeds bear fruit? Only time will tell. But for now, several dozen students in both Cordova and Valdez know a bit more about mariculture and STEM, have tried my “world famous” kelp pickle soup, and some have gone on to do great things in the mariculture space.