speaker-1: Hi everyone, and welcome to the Seafood Entry Point, a podcast dedicated to helping people discover opportunities in seafood. In each episode, we share practical insights, stories, and conversations with the people building and supporting Canada's seafood sector. Few weeks, we're bringing you a special series of short episodes recorded at the 2026 Pacific Seaweed Summit in Campbell River, BC. The summit was hosted by the Pacific Seaweed Industry Association, North Island College, and the Hilts Climate Action Team, and brought together many stakeholders in the industry. We were there with entrepreneurs, harvesters, researchers, indigenous leaders, processors, educators, investors, and organization from across the coast and beyond. My colleague Andy and I spent three days attending sessions, meeting people, and recording conversations through the event. What stood out most was really just how much the seaweed conversation in BC is evolving. Just a few years ago, many of the discussions focused on whether seaweed could become an industry. And today the conversations are much more practical. People are talking about processing infrastructure. They're talking about financing and permitting, supply chains, product development. Market access, consumer education, and how to build an industry that creates meaningful benefits for coastal communities. At the same time, there were equally important conversations about stewardship, indigenous governance, food sovereignty, as well as restoration and maintaining healthy relationships with ocean ecosystems as the sector is growing. One theme that came up again and again throughout the summit was that growing seaweed may no longer be the biggest challenge. It's what happens after the harvest now. So how do we process it? How do we create markets? How do we build businesses? How do we ensure communities actually benefit? And what does success actually look like for the sector as it develops? These are all huge questions and great conversations that we had throughout the summit. In this series, we'll be sharing conversations with attendees from a wide range of backgrounds. These are people who are actively helping shape the future of seaweed in BC and across Canada. So, to kick things off, Andy and I sat down with Mark Smith during a networking break of the conference. Mark is the executive director of the Pacific Seaweed Industry Association and leads strategy and growth for the Canadian Seaweed Network. His work helps bring together many of the people and organizations that are building Canada's seaweed sector. In our conversation, Mark shares his perspective on entrepreneurship, the opportunities that are emerging within the seaweed industry, as well as the infrastructure gaps that still need to be addressed, and what aspiring entrepreneurs should know before launching into a seaweed business. Here's our conversation with Mark Smith. Can you tell us who you are and ⁓ what brought you to the summit today?
speaker-0: So my name's Mark Smith. I'm the executive director of the Pacific Seaweed Industry Association, and I also ⁓ lead the strategy and growth for the Canadian Seaweed Network. ⁓
speaker-1: Great. can you tell us a little bit about the Pacific Seaweed Industry Association and what you do?
speaker-0: Yeah. So the Pacific Seaweed Association, we're we work at the intersection of ocean health, social and community license, and economic development. And is simply put, our mission is to really grow the Indigenous led ⁓ industry and sector, both in British Columbia and across Canada. And that's everything from innovation, conservation, product development and supply chain. So it's a cross thing, education. kind of all the pieces of the puzzle to bring it together. So we're working to lead from the front and manage and co-create that space. We're not making any assumptions that we're the ones to do it. We're just to help bring everybody together.
speaker-1: That's fantastic. And it's really, ⁓ it's definitely needed for all of the broad things that you just talked about. Entrepreneurs taking on that on their own, like building a market and product development, building social license. That's almost impossible for a single entrepreneur to do. So an association is really important to have. So our podcast, I know we haven't told you much about about it, but ⁓ the seafood entry point, ⁓ it's an extension learning podcast to kind of drum up interest for young people getting into seafood, ⁓ as well as provide them with some support, ⁓ breaking down some barriers ⁓ to really just bring knowledge to them to help them ⁓ navigate some of the pathways into the seafood industry. So could you tell us a little bit about how your organization really either works with entrepreneurs or supports them in this industry?
speaker-0: Right. So I think the yeah, we're from the working standpoint, you know, are specifically in the in the seafood space, you know, which is a a very complex environment, the food industry, regardless what scale you're at, if that's small on a farmer's market, artisanal, or if you have a vision to end up on the shelves of a Save On Foods, for example. So there's a lot of pieces in between there. But quite frankly, first and foremost, one of the things we try and identify with is like what actually is a viable product. So that really that validating the product market fit, doing a little preliminary research before somebody kind of goes down that pathway, invests a whole host of money and find out they've actually missed the mark. So all of those pieces, it's it's important to work all the way through from the product stage right to that on the shelf, from the ocean to the shelf as it were, pieces. So we we like to think and we've got access ⁓ to to folks throughout from the consumer package goods space to innovation to development in there to really help guide those along to find out where those opportunities and oftentimes there's a number of those kind of startups that end up pivoting along the way because they had a, you know, they get very personally attached, as we all do to our startup businesses, that this is going to be the next success story. And in actual fact, it might be them and their three friends that really like it and they just need to pivot a little. So were there all those stages along the way?
speaker-1: That's really great because that is often what happens with entrepreneurs is that you get really excited about a very specific product and then go down the rabbit hole. ⁓ whereas what you want to be doing is to get feedback and learn as you're going and change or adapt your product ⁓ to be able to ⁓ make it viable because that's always a little bit different, like a viable business versus maybe your passion project.
speaker-2: If someone came to you, a young entrepreneur, how would you sell them on seaweed? Why why seaweed?
speaker-0: I think, you know, it's certainly the it's as from an industry standpoint, as we start to scale that, it's it's an opportunity, right? And we see again, if the right product opportunity is there, we think you know, we think there's room to tell that story. You know, obviously in Canada, there's if I go to a local grocery store here, or I go to an Hmart, for example, a very established that services the Asian market, where there's literally half an aisle. Of seaweed products in a store in British Columbia, of which none of them for the most part are British Columbia products that that would we'd be trying to guide that into creating a product that would actually cater and be tailored to really a North American palette. So that's an important piece. Like I'm we're thrilled, I'm thrilled, get from the seaweed space to actually be on this from the seaweed seafood perspective. Because we one of the things we are also working to do organizationally, and it's challenging because we're all busy, but is to really build those bridges, whether that's shellfish or the urchins or the oysters, and really kind of get everybody together moving, which hangs back to your question around the startups of are there complementary pieces, other hypothetically product developers or organizations that they could be working with to really move all that thing. forward. So it could be a a portfolio of seafood products that might include
speaker-2: And so along those lines, where what kind of seaweed related businesses do you think need to be in place? Or like if you were gonna tell somebody, all right, this is within the seafood or seaweed sector, what's the missing the missing links where new businesses would be beneficial to everyone?
speaker-0: Yeah, so it's it's really at scale. It's you know, it's infrastructure. And by infrastructure in this case, I'm defining that as processing. So anybody who's kind of in that food space in British Columbia and the see weed for the most part is relatively small scale because they're probably doing it at a very, you know, maybe in a commercial kitchen where they can actually produce something properly so they can get it to market with the right certifications. But that processing Stabilization, drying, whatever they might be doing, all those processes, all those facilities exist for the food kind of industry in the province, but not necessarily specific to seaweed. So there's a gap that we're trying to fill in developing some of those pieces because it does get it's very expensive to go to XYZ processing company and go, hey, we need you to stop all your production for the next two weeks and do a run for our product, that's very costly to do that. So that said, ⁓ not to deter anybody in that piece, you know, the more innovation in that sea weedslash seafood space we've got, we can then create the business case and the economics to kind of make that work on a larger scale. So we're we're working on like mobile technology. So drawing and things. So you could it actually access those and as those companies scale will scale the infrastructure together.
speaker-2: That's that's great. And is there is there one thing that if someone's coming to you that you think they should know before they start a seaweed business, before they get into that venture?
speaker-0: Yeah, I you know, I'm just gonna be I'm just gonna put my business hat on and go, like, is there a customer for what you're doing? At the end of the day, it's you know, you can kind of reverse engineer the math. We one of the things that we know now, after you know, kind of being in this space for a bit, we know we can grow seaweed. So, you know, there's is there access is there access to enough of what somebody needs? That's another discussion as we scale up cultivation. But more importantly, like just the sound, you know, kind of business one on one attributes. Is there, can you make money at doing this? Right? Like is this a profitable piece all along the way? And until you kind of get to that larger scale. And I always caution and kind of across the board in business and specifically in the food space, like bigger is not always better. And it's kind of that careful what your wish for and everybody's aspirational goal might be to be how do I get listed in Sobeys or Whole Foods immediately. But when you start getting into the really The significant large players in the industry. And if you can't all of a sudden meet your obligations to them for filling and having your product on the shelf regularly, it's probably not going to end well for you. So it has to be very controlled growth, kind of careful what you wish for, and just be absolutely brutally honest with yourself around the math. And sometimes My experience with entrepreneurial things and a whole host of other businesses is like, well, we'll we'll kind of make that work, right? But that often does not end well. So I think it's just whether it's seafood, seaweed, oysters, whatever the widget has to be, does the math work? I just go
speaker-2: One last one. Do you have ⁓ do you have any seaweed or kelp jokes?
speaker-0: Wow, I should. ⁓ I don't, but I do have slightly anecdotal. We have a plug for us. You can get it on us or on the Get Calp website. It was a standing joke with a whole host of folks in the industry for years. It's like, we're BC's other weed. Right. So we think that's pretty good. So we actually have t shirts now to that effect. And ironically enough, as are as through that work, we've actually were developing some relationships with the cannabis sector. Because and there's like there's true product innovation opportunities to be had there. So unfortunately I should 'cause I've heard Kelp thinks 'cause I've been on a lot of kelp panels everywhere. So I should remember some of those. But I just think our little tongue in cheek, the BC's other weed is is pretty good.
speaker-1: That is a fantastic slogan. That's great. ⁓ and we are going to be going around at the mixer to get some fun clips as well. So if you think of a joke, ⁓ you can also ⁓ add it in there. but that's that's a great slogan. And one last thing just to finish this up, for anyone listening who would like to connect with the Pacific Seaweed Industry Association, how would they get in contact with you and like in what context?
speaker-0: Yeah, I think so our website, seaweedindustry dot ca, that's fairly simple. And there's email on there, info at seaweedindustry dot c you can C A, you can feel free to follow us on LinkedIn. We're pretty good. We'll absolutely we're happy to have a conversation with anybody regardless where they're at.
speaker-1: Okay, thank you so much. This is great. Yeah, thanks for your time. Thank you for joining us for this episode of the Seafood Entry Point. For more resources and episodes, visit our website and follow along as we continue exploring the people, businesses, and innovations driving the future of seafood. The Seafood Entry Point is brought to you by Vancouver Island University through the Sustainable Food Systems for Canada Network, also known as SF4C. This work contributes to a broader national network of universities that are working to strengthen Canada's agri-food sector through innovation, training, and collaboration. VIU acknowledges and thanks the Cisnamic, Quatsan, Slamen, Sa'anaz, and Qualicum First Nation, whose traditional lands we teach, learn, research, live, and share knowledge.
speaker-0: So my name's Mark Smith. I'm the executive director of the Pacific Seaweed Industry Association, and I also ⁓ lead the strategy and growth for the Canadian Seaweed Network. ⁓
speaker-1: Great. can you tell us a little bit about the Pacific Seaweed Industry Association and what you do?
speaker-0: Yeah. So the Pacific Seaweed Association, we're we work at the intersection of ocean health, social and community license, and economic development. And is simply put, our mission is to really grow the Indigenous led ⁓ industry and sector, both in British Columbia and across Canada. And that's everything from innovation, conservation, product development and supply chain. So it's a cross thing, education. kind of all the pieces of the puzzle to bring it together. So we're working to lead from the front and manage and co-create that space. We're not making any assumptions that we're the ones to do it. We're just to help bring everybody together.
speaker-1: That's fantastic. And it's really, ⁓ it's definitely needed for all of the broad things that you just talked about. Entrepreneurs taking on that on their own, like building a market and product development, building social license. That's almost impossible for a single entrepreneur to do. So an association is really important to have. So our podcast, I know we haven't told you much about about it, but ⁓ the seafood entry point, ⁓ it's an extension learning podcast to kind of drum up interest for young people getting into seafood, ⁓ as well as provide them with some support, ⁓ breaking down some barriers ⁓ to really just bring knowledge to them to help them ⁓ navigate some of the pathways into the seafood industry. So could you tell us a little bit about how your organization really either works with entrepreneurs or supports them in this industry?
speaker-0: Right. So I think the yeah, we're from the working standpoint, you know, are specifically in the in the seafood space, you know, which is a a very complex environment, the food industry, regardless what scale you're at, if that's small on a farmer's market, artisanal, or if you have a vision to end up on the shelves of a Save On Foods, for example. So there's a lot of pieces in between there. But quite frankly, first and foremost, one of the things we try and identify with is like what actually is a viable product. So that really that validating the product market fit, doing a little preliminary research before somebody kind of goes down that pathway, invests a whole host of money and find out they've actually missed the mark. So all of those pieces, it's it's important to work all the way through from the product stage right to that on the shelf, from the ocean to the shelf as it were, pieces. So we we like to think and we've got access ⁓ to to folks throughout from the consumer package goods space to innovation to development in there to really help guide those along to find out where those opportunities and oftentimes there's a number of those kind of startups that end up pivoting along the way because they had a, you know, they get very personally attached, as we all do to our startup businesses, that this is going to be the next success story. And in actual fact, it might be them and their three friends that really like it and they just need to pivot a little. So were there all those stages along the way?
speaker-1: That's really great because that is often what happens with entrepreneurs is that you get really excited about a very specific product and then go down the rabbit hole. ⁓ whereas what you want to be doing is to get feedback and learn as you're going and change or adapt your product ⁓ to be able to ⁓ make it viable because that's always a little bit different, like a viable business versus maybe your passion project.
speaker-2: If someone came to you, a young entrepreneur, how would you sell them on seaweed? Why why seaweed?
speaker-0: I think, you know, it's certainly the it's as from an industry standpoint, as we start to scale that, it's it's an opportunity, right? And we see again, if the right product opportunity is there, we think you know, we think there's room to tell that story. You know, obviously in Canada, there's if I go to a local grocery store here, or I go to an Hmart, for example, a very established that services the Asian market, where there's literally half an aisle. Of seaweed products in a store in British Columbia, of which none of them for the most part are British Columbia products that that would we'd be trying to guide that into creating a product that would actually cater and be tailored to really a North American palette. So that's an important piece. Like I'm we're thrilled, I'm thrilled, get from the seaweed space to actually be on this from the seaweed seafood perspective. Because we one of the things we are also working to do organizationally, and it's challenging because we're all busy, but is to really build those bridges, whether that's shellfish or the urchins or the oysters, and really kind of get everybody together moving, which hangs back to your question around the startups of are there complementary pieces, other hypothetically product developers or organizations that they could be working with to really move all that thing. forward. So it could be a a portfolio of seafood products that might include
speaker-2: And so along those lines, where what kind of seaweed related businesses do you think need to be in place? Or like if you were gonna tell somebody, all right, this is within the seafood or seaweed sector, what's the missing the missing links where new businesses would be beneficial to everyone?
speaker-0: Yeah, so it's it's really at scale. It's you know, it's infrastructure. And by infrastructure in this case, I'm defining that as processing. So anybody who's kind of in that food space in British Columbia and the see weed for the most part is relatively small scale because they're probably doing it at a very, you know, maybe in a commercial kitchen where they can actually produce something properly so they can get it to market with the right certifications. But that processing Stabilization, drying, whatever they might be doing, all those processes, all those facilities exist for the food kind of industry in the province, but not necessarily specific to seaweed. So there's a gap that we're trying to fill in developing some of those pieces because it does get it's very expensive to go to XYZ processing company and go, hey, we need you to stop all your production for the next two weeks and do a run for our product, that's very costly to do that. So that said, ⁓ not to deter anybody in that piece, you know, the more innovation in that sea weedslash seafood space we've got, we can then create the business case and the economics to kind of make that work on a larger scale. So we're we're working on like mobile technology. So drawing and things. So you could it actually access those and as those companies scale will scale the infrastructure together.
speaker-2: That's that's great. And is there is there one thing that if someone's coming to you that you think they should know before they start a seaweed business, before they get into that venture?
speaker-0: Yeah, I you know, I'm just gonna be I'm just gonna put my business hat on and go, like, is there a customer for what you're doing? At the end of the day, it's you know, you can kind of reverse engineer the math. We one of the things that we know now, after you know, kind of being in this space for a bit, we know we can grow seaweed. So, you know, there's is there access is there access to enough of what somebody needs? That's another discussion as we scale up cultivation. But more importantly, like just the sound, you know, kind of business one on one attributes. Is there, can you make money at doing this? Right? Like is this a profitable piece all along the way? And until you kind of get to that larger scale. And I always caution and kind of across the board in business and specifically in the food space, like bigger is not always better. And it's kind of that careful what your wish for and everybody's aspirational goal might be to be how do I get listed in Sobeys or Whole Foods immediately. But when you start getting into the really The significant large players in the industry. And if you can't all of a sudden meet your obligations to them for filling and having your product on the shelf regularly, it's probably not going to end well for you. So it has to be very controlled growth, kind of careful what you wish for, and just be absolutely brutally honest with yourself around the math. And sometimes My experience with entrepreneurial things and a whole host of other businesses is like, well, we'll we'll kind of make that work, right? But that often does not end well. So I think it's just whether it's seafood, seaweed, oysters, whatever the widget has to be, does the math work? I just go
speaker-2: One last one. Do you have ⁓ do you have any seaweed or kelp jokes?
speaker-0: Wow, I should. ⁓ I don't, but I do have slightly anecdotal. We have a plug for us. You can get it on us or on the Get Calp website. It was a standing joke with a whole host of folks in the industry for years. It's like, we're BC's other weed. Right. So we think that's pretty good. So we actually have t shirts now to that effect. And ironically enough, as are as through that work, we've actually were developing some relationships with the cannabis sector. Because and there's like there's true product innovation opportunities to be had there. So unfortunately I should 'cause I've heard Kelp thinks 'cause I've been on a lot of kelp panels everywhere. So I should remember some of those. But I just think our little tongue in cheek, the BC's other weed is is pretty good.
speaker-1: That is a fantastic slogan. That's great. ⁓ and we are going to be going around at the mixer to get some fun clips as well. So if you think of a joke, ⁓ you can also ⁓ add it in there. but that's that's a great slogan. And one last thing just to finish this up, for anyone listening who would like to connect with the Pacific Seaweed Industry Association, how would they get in contact with you and like in what context?
speaker-0: Yeah, I think so our website, seaweedindustry dot ca, that's fairly simple. And there's email on there, info at seaweedindustry dot c you can C A, you can feel free to follow us on LinkedIn. We're pretty good. We'll absolutely we're happy to have a conversation with anybody regardless where they're at.
speaker-1: Okay, thank you so much. This is great. Yeah, thanks for your time. Thank you for joining us for this episode of the Seafood Entry Point. For more resources and episodes, visit our website and follow along as we continue exploring the people, businesses, and innovations driving the future of seafood. The Seafood Entry Point is brought to you by Vancouver Island University through the Sustainable Food Systems for Canada Network, also known as SF4C. This work contributes to a broader national network of universities that are working to strengthen Canada's agri-food sector through innovation, training, and collaboration. VIU acknowledges and thanks the Cisnamic, Quatsan, Slamen, Sa'anaz, and Qualicum First Nation, whose traditional lands we teach, learn, research, live, and share knowledge.
