Kelp harvesting in Kodiak. (Kayla Desroches/KMXT)
The seaweed and oyster industry in the Southeast are aligned to receive a boost in feed. The US Department of Agriculture announced Thursday that it will provide $500,000 in funding to develop plans for a new mariculture processing facility on the Prince of Wales Island. Producers and processors welcome the news.
The USDA Undersecretary for Rural Development, Xochitl Torres Small, says the initiative goes hand in hand with the Biden administration’s plans for new economic opportunities in a region in transition as the timber industry shrinks.
“It’s a great opportunity for economic diversification,” Torres Small said in a phone interview Friday. “One of the things I love about this project is that it is led by partners on the ground.”
She credits the idea to the Southeast Conference, a regional civic and industry group. CEO Robert Venables says the investment will go to good use.
“One of the things we’re trying to do is help support the industry and identify their needs, and it’s coming to the fore that the facility can particularly help smaller entities to have a place to do the processing, warehousing, shipping, assembly, any number of things, but they don’t have the means to do individual building their own facilities.
The idea, Venables says, is to create a cooperative facility that will be shared by a number of mariculture companies.
Matthew Scaleta owns Wildfish Cannery in Klawock.
“We’re like an artisanal seafood canning factory,” he said by phone Friday.
Scaletta says that Wildfish does not currently canned aquaculture products, but they are looking to get into the sector.
We hope to be a value-added producer of marine aquaculture products. Part of our future business plan is to work on more of these products in our lineup,” he said.
This is all very preliminary, but Scaletta says he could see his company add 5 to 10 jobs by expanding its business to the new facility.
Marcus Scheer runs Seagrove Kelp, a marine culture group with a nursery in Ketchikan and a seaweed farm on the western side of Prince of Wales. He also chairs the Southeastern Conference’s Seafood and Seafood Committee.
“I think this is really an exciting time for Alaskan mariculture and the development of sustainable, non-extractive economic opportunities for coastal Alaskans. I think this is part of a really interesting and wonderful paradigm shift and an opportunity for sustainable economic development for coastal communities,” Cher said Friday by phone. .
Venables says the $500,000 payment will go towards engineering and design work, community engagement, utility work, and other preparatory work to get ready for construction. He says the Southeast Conference plans to help tap funding from a recently passed federal infrastructure bill to help make the facility happen.