Seagriculture Speaker

Michael is a Founding Partner and CEO of Cascadia Seaweed, and he resides and works on the west coast of Canada. Michael has had a long relationship with the sea.

Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, he proudly served in the Royal Canadian Navy for over thirty years. He had a number of shore-based, sea-going (under-sea) and overseas postings, culminating with three years as Commander of Canada’s west coast Naval Base.

In the last fifteen years, he has been an entrepreneur and leader of a number of marine oriented companies in areas of energy, security, and education. Michael has a Bachelor of Science degree, a Master of Business Administration degree, and a number of professionally related certifications. 

Cascadia Seaweed’s headquarters is located in the land of the W̱SÁNEĆ peoples represented by the Tsartlip, Pauquachin, Tsawout, Tseycum and Malahat Nations. The First Peoples have been here since time immemorial and their history and stewardship in this area is long and rich.

Company info: 

Cascadia Seaweed, founded in 2019, is a vertically integrated AgTech Company dedicated to addressing climate change and food security. We cultivate local species of seaweed on low-impact ocean farms in partnership with coastal First Nations. We then harvest that seaweed and manufacture agricultural products for land-based farmers that increase yields and reduce emissions. As a certified B Corp and registered Benefit Company in British Columbia, we are committed to building a profitable and scalable business that our team members, shareholders, and business partners can take pride in.

Presentation: 

On the west coast of Canada, the Province of British Columbia is home to over 200 First Nations, with about 50 Nations residing in coastal areas.  Consultation and partnership with these coastal First Nations is both necessary and beneficial to those involved in aquaculture.  Since 2019, Cascadia Seaweed has successfully partnered with 10 of these Nations, with the intent to bring benefit to all partners and improvements to the coast ecosystem.  The journey is never straightforward, and Cascadia's perspective and thoughts from the partner Nations will be discussed.