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Kelp, oysters and outboards: energy efficiency meets regenerative ocean farming

August 24, 2023

This article is part of a series highlighting ACEP’s 2023 cohort of eighteen undergraduate interns. To read about other projects and learn more about the program, please visit the .

Kristian Nudlash-Barger is a sophomore at the University of Alaska Anchorage studying electrical engineering. His hometown is Dillingham, Alaska where he grew up commercial fishing.

This summer, Nudlash-Barger returned to Dillingham to analyze energy usage in oyster and kelp farms alongside mentor Chandler Kemp, assistant professor of sustainable energy at the 51�������� Bristol Bay Campus.

Nudlash-Barger first examined relevant research done in the past. He then went on a trip with Kemp to Kodiak, Larsen Bay, and Sitka to record data from mariculture vessels, using a NMEA 2000 system that he designed. His system logs and displays fuel data, GPS data, and various engine outputs such as rpm (revolutions per minute), all in real time. After logging vessel data, Nudlash-Barger spent the rest of his time writing Python code to make the data easily accessible and readable.

This research is important as there is very little published information on energy usage in mariculture. The research by Kemp and Nudlash-Barger will lay the groundwork for a “best-practices guide” in mariculture energy efficiency.

Alaska’s mariculture industry is set to expand rapidly over the next decade with the help of grants that the has won as part of the . The grants will ensure that the portion set aside for energy efficiency will be well used.

Nudlash-Barger had a positive internship experience learning about marine electronics, Python, and the mariculture industry. He appreciates the freedom given to explore and research on his own.

“I was even given control over our equipment budget!” he said.

The mariculture vessel trip made him realize that he truly enjoys fieldwork, and the connections he made are “the most valuable thing I got out of this internship.”

“I now know many of the leaders in the mariculture industry, and I think my relationship with ACEP will help me grow professionally,” he said.

This internship is funded by program and 51�������� Alaska Blue Economy Center through the program. View the final presentation for this project on . For more information on this project, please contact Chandler Kemp at ckemp6@alaska.edu.