Silver Bay Seafoods has announced plans to build a 182-acre oyster farm near its existing processing facility in Sitka – one of two large oyster farms announced this week in Alaska.
The Seattle, Washington, U.S.A-based company – which primarily conducts salmon processing operations in Alaska, but which recently purchased a seafood processing plant from Tri Marine in Los Angeles, California – is now looking to branch into oyster cultivation, company representative Tommy Sheridan told local media in Alaska on 7 February.
“Alaska waters produce the highest quality seafood products in the country, if not the world,” Sheridan told CoastAlaska. “There is significant demand for Alaska oysters.”
Silver Bay first applied for a 10-year lease for its oyster farm from the Alaska Department of Natural Resources in 2017, but its plans become more public last week as the proposal came up for public comment.
Another permit for a large oyster farm was also recently approved by the state. A Premium Aquatics LLC proposal to open a 127-acre farm growing Pacific oysters and kelp in Doyle Bay, near Prince of Wales Island and Craig, Alaska, was been approved by the state but the company still needs to pay fees, post a bond, and pick up its 10-year-lease before it can begin operations.
Previously, the largest oyster farm permitted in Alaska was 26 acres in size, according to CoastAlaska.
The state of Alaska’s Mariculture Task Force, formed three years ago, has encouraged more oyster farming as part of its effort to grow the industry to USD 1 billion (EUR 893 million) within 30 years.
Julie Decker, the executive director of the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation, told SeafoodSource in 2016 Alaska’s more than 6,600 miles of coastline – and almost 34,000 miles if tidal areas are included – give the effort enormous potential for growth, Decker said, especially as little of that area is currently used for any type of mariculture.
“Our vision is that Alaska becomes a new frontier for aquaculture,” Decker said. “We are on our way to making that a reality.”
