Meet Bri Warner | CEO, Atlantic Sea Farms

We had the good fortune of connecting with Bri Warner and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Bri, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
The Gulf of Maine is warming faster than 98% of oceans worldwide at a time when our coast is dependent on a lobster monoculture. Our lobster industry is conservation-minded and owner-operated – which means we have created a thriving fishery that has kept Maine’s working waterfronts vital. Nonetheless, the warming water threatens the survival of lobster larvae and has increased the volatility of the fishery and our coastal communities. We need to find ways to diversify how we make a living on the water – and kelp farming is a perfect counter-seasonal income source for Maine’s fishermen. Add to that the fact that more than 95% of the seaweed that we eat in the US is imported from East Asia with little traceability or insight into the waters it was grown in or the people that farmed it. Through this lens, I saw an incredible opportunity for Maine’s 4000+ fishermen to farm kelp using their lobster boats and in their offseason – taking advantage of the fact that we have clean, cold waters and more coastline than the state of California. Atlantic Sea Farms was created to help fishermen become kelp farmers – and turn their kelp into delicious products that are good for the environment, good for coastal communities, and good for consumers.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Atlantic Sea Farms is driving the market for regenerative kelp farming in the US by putting people, planet, and customer health first. By working with Maine’s fishermen, we grow and produce the majority of farmed seaweed in the US – a crop which is grown with zero inputs, soil, or fresh water and helps to locally mitigate some of the effects of climate change while also helping coastal communities adapt to warming waters. On top of that, Atlantic Sea Farms is a woman-run company which is notable especially given that less than 1% of all C-Suite positions in the global seafood chain are filled by women and less than 2% of all venture funding goes to women-run companies in the US. We are trying to re-write the rules by creating a more equitable food system that puts values first.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
The Team at Atlantic Sea Farms – who show up everyday with passion and drive to create something entirely new and prove that we can all do well by doing good.

Website: atlanticseafarms.com

Image Credits
Atlantic Sea Farms