Micheal was born and raised in the small seaside village of Kilcar in the heart of the Gaeltacht area of Donegal in Ireland. As the son of a local fisherman he was at the shore from a very young age on. Besides fishing with his family, he was already starting to harvest seaweed with his siblings at the age of 10. The seaweed was used for cooking, for medical purposes such as cough remedies or as fertilizer in the family garden or fields. After working as a fisherman and engineer for years, he used his deep knowledge about seaweed as managing director of a company producing health and beauty products from seaweed for 12 years.